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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
A Voice From The Bush It was the first first I've ever scored and that alone makes it worthwhile writing about. For the first time in my life I was moved to write a submission to a Parliamentary inquiry. "Oh crikey," what a waste of time you might reckon. And you're probably right. But I wrote because I was angry - angry that my livelihood, my history and my heritage had been removed arbitrarily by a state government whose only long term legacy to Australia will be the destruction it's environmental policies have wreaked on the State of Victoria. I am a Mountain Cattlemen on Victoria's Bogong High Plains. Our heritage is linked to The Man From Snowy River tradition and it's an Australian icon that we're proud of. In fact, Australians in general are so proud of it that we opened the 2000 Sydney Olympics with stock horses and riders representing our mountain horsemen and music inspired by that tradition. If the Victorian Government has its way, however, this living and breathing heritage that every Australian can participate in will be gone forever for the sake of a few cheap votes from the radical conservation movement. What has happened here is a bit like America attacking its cowboy tradition and turning its heroes into outlaws. Unthinkable! Along with the vast majority of Australians I was outraged by the actions of the Victorian government in evicting us from our traditional lands. Plus, it goes against the grain to be given marching orders by a politician known to his acquaintances as Twitter, as is Johnstone Thwaites, Victoria's Environment Minister. But what could I do except remain defiant? Nothing much, it seemed. So, first of all I sat down and wrote a song to be played at our protest rally at Parliament House, Melbourne, on June 9 last year where we turned up with 500 horses and riders plus a couple of thousand people on foot. I'd been writing songs for playing around the campfire for years but never for a big occasion. Mates around the fire were the only audience I'd ever known. And they weren't always appreciative and what's more they never offered any applause. Nonetheless, a week or so before the rally I turned up at a Melbourne recording studio with my battered old Maton guitar and laid down the tracks. To sing it I had to close my eyes and imagine myself back in the bush. I never imagined that anything in the way of a song written by me would turn up at the Australian Senate, let alone that I would send it there. But I did. And that leads me back to the first I scored. I wrote my submission and sent it off, then, as an afterthought sent it again with the song as an attachment. A couple of days later I received an e-mail back from the secretary of the Senate's Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee which is inquiring into the management of Australia's National Parks and conservation reserves. It read: Hi Phillip, Many thanks for your amended submission. I anticipate that the Committee will accept your submission as evidence to the inquiry in due course. I will get a formal letter confirming this decision out to you in a few days. Thanks also for a copy of your song - which we have all enjoyed listening too here in the office. This is a first for this Committee to receive music as part of the evidence to the inquiry and is a pleasant change to the pages of manuscript we usually get!! Again thank you for your submission. Kind regards Jacqui Dr Jacqueline Dewar Secretary A/g Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee That message from Jacqui Dewar cheered me up enormously. So, although I'm unlikely to get any satisfaction from the inquiry at least I've made sure the Senators listen to what I have to say. And that is, essentially, that the Victorian law removing me from my runs is going to be ignored, not just by me but also by other Cattlemen right up until the day it is removed. I recommend to anyone else thinking of sending a submission off to government whether in Australia, the USA or some other country that they adopt a similar approach. There are ways of making your message heard. Let's all get creative with our submissions. If they don't like what they're hearing they can block their ears but if you happen to entertain them, who knows, you might gain a helpful ally. Anyone who wants to listen to my humble offering can download it for free at http://www.bundarrah.com.au Hope you enjoy it. And finally, a disclaimer - the site where the song is available is a commercial site advertising horse tours. It's not my intention to trick anyone into visiting a commercial site so if you want to hear the song just click the link above, close your eyes and think of the Australian bush. Philip Maguire blogs at Bundarrah Days http://bundarrahdays.blogspirit.com Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Great Divide at 6:56 PM |
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