July2015_Mt MEE RAMBLINGS

Ian Wells

I write in brilliant winter sunshine following some gentle and very welcome June rain.  Our grass supply is still good, although even this early into winter the feed on some Mountain properties has already been well utilized.  I guess that it depends on how the grass is managed, on how many feet are trampling it and on how many mouths are eating it.  It isn’t a simple equation. 

I’m reading Peter Andrews’ book “Back from the Brink” at the moment – Andrews is the controversial self – styled ‘expert’ on land and pasture management in the Australian climate.  His experiments on his property Tarwyn Park, in the Hunter River Valley, were recently featured on the ABC’s ‘Australian Story’.  The book is an interesting read, but I have difficulty accepting some of his ideas.  Try it yourself and see what you think!  Is Andrews a looney or not?

The Mt Mee “Symphony on the Mountain” May concert was superb.  Conductor Andrew Robinson has lost none of his finesse, and even with last minute unrehearsed stand-ins filling the key roles of Leader and solo trumpet, the orchestra was tightly together and the sound was rich and smooth.  As promised, there were musical contributions seemingly from everywhere – Germany, Austria, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Britain, the USA, Russia and of course Australia.

But the highlight was “Benchmark” the barber shop quartet.  It was easy to understand why they hold such high world ranking, as they applied their often adventurous four part harmonies to tunes such as ‘Over the Rainbow’ ‘My Wild Irish Rose’ ‘Somewhere’ (from West side Story) ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ and ‘Country Roads’.  And there were many others.  It was just fabulous stuff – and it was all done without a skerrick of accompaniment until the grand finale.  Then the orchestra- under the very tight control of Andrew Robinson, joined with them in what has to be the best ever performance of that magnificent work ‘I Still Call Australia Home’, written by our very own Boy from Oz.  I still get moist eyed when I think about it.

What a wonderful concert before a fully booked house – sadly many had missed out.  And yes Doreen, the afternoon tea was well up to tradition too, while Hall volunteers did a great job with set-up and take-down.  All went smoothly, despite the threat that sudden Council anxiety over our fibro- asbestos walls that have been in place without incident for some eighty years might derail the whole event! 

I have had some good feedback on last month’s “Eat Australian” article.  Thanks for that!  And please spread the word!

These days Kay and I always check to see that we are buying local food staples, and we were surprised this week to find an apologetic statement on a tin of SPC baked beans, explaining that because of drought they were unable to source Australian grown beans for the product.  Navy beans were once a major crop in many parts of Australia – including Queensland’s Burnett, but evidently few growers now consider it worth risking a crop for the shrinking local market. Supermarket shelves are full of cheap imported baked beans.

Finally, Ocean View resident Des Page is worth a special mention – he worked at the Hall on the concert set-up before disappearing to help with Dayboro Day, he returned to the Hall for our take-down and then he disappeared again to help settle things in Dayboro.  Some people are worth looking after!