Friday, January 1, 2016

AUSTRALIA NEEDS MORE SINGING, YARN SPINNING PRICKLE FARMERS


What this nation needs more than a 15  cent cigar for puffed up  men of  finance  are   more prickle farmers like former Darwin ABC journalist and musician , the late Mike  Hayes , whose  life  on  an odd  hobby farm at Gundaroo , near  Canberra, with  his  blushing child bride ,  became  a long running  source  of  entertainment  on  radio  and  in  books.

One of  his  10 books, seen  here ,  was recently acquired during  another   grand  tour of  Townsville op shops. Born in  England , Mike spent time in Sri Lanka  with his parents before coming to Australia , grew up in  Melbourne, became a journalist at the  Age, went to Darwin for the ABC where  he   made an  impact on  the  Top End.
  
In Darwin at the  time of Cyclone Tracy in 1974  , his early reports of the devastation  were heard  across the nation  and  repeated   at  anniversaries of the natural  disaster   down through   the  years and  in ABC  promos . A Darwin  band he played in went under the name Brown Sugar  because  it was rough and unrefined , he explained .
 
 Fishy yarn. 
Acknowledged as one of  the pioneers of Country Music , he  and his  brother  formed  the Hayes Brothers  band  and their Bluegrass Ramblers  was said to be Australia's  first true  bluegrass  group.
 
Another claim to fame for  Mike was  winning  the highly  prestigious World  Yarn Spinning  Championship   in Darwin, downing  veteran  raconteur  and  former NT yarn spinning champion,  Communist  author  and  song writer , Frank Hardy.
 
Mike is captured above in a Little Darwin photo  hamming it  up in  Darwin , the suggestion  being  he was engaged in  a new exciting  and highly  dangerous  sport  catching  Killer  Whales with a bow and arrow... or a tame , tiny Tommy Ruff .
 
After the cyclone , Mike went to the Canberra office of the ABC and once more became  a  local  hit  , winning  a large   national  following through  his hilarious   Prickle  Farm  radio talks  and  books . 
 
Moving away from the Prickle Farm at Gundaroo, he and his child bride  became  deeply involved  in community and  environmental issues. The bride became the  Mayor of Kempsey and Mike, a freelancer , wrote a regular column for the  Sydney Morning   Herald .  He  died in 2003 at the age of 58  shortly after being the subject  of an Australian Story on  ABC television.
 
In a matter of public interest  in the Senate , it was said  that Mike, with a huge social and political conscience , had been well known by many in the parliamentary  press gallery . Through his  Prickle Farm series  he  had become  larger  than  life, outrageously caustic and an astute observer of human nature.