Tuesday, September 2, 2014

TIMOR - LESTE HONOURS AUSTRALIAN BROTHERS


The  Wesley-Smith  brothers  were  recently presented with  the  Order of Timor   for  their   long  and  varied   support  for  the  country.   Pictured   above , in  the  Presidential  Palace, Dili , from  the  left,  are  Martin Wesley-Smith , President  Taur  Matan  Ruak ,  Rob  Wesley-Smith  and  Peter  Wesley-Smith.
  
 In  his report to  this blog, Rob   said  he  had  introduced  his  brother  Martin, suffering from  cancer, to  tea made  from  boiling  a  grass ,  Phalaris arundicaecae "Picta", which  several   Timorese  in  Darwin claim   has  cured   their  cancer.   There is  a suggestion  the  grass may have come  from Timor  in the first place  and  is now sold  in  the  Bunnings store  in Darwin.

While in Timor-Leste, Rob , an agronomist , had  taken  some of  the grass  to a Catholic  orphanage , where  he  had worked  in  the past , and   instructed  nuns on  how to  grow  and  transplant  it.  He suggested  tea  made  from it  could be given to  a  child with a  cancerous growth on  his  neck , mentioned in a recent  ABC documentary , which  featured  the  work of  Dr  Dan Murphy,  and  asked to be  kept informed of  any  reaction  .

 Martin Wesley-Smith is a pioneer in Australia of audiovisual composition . He taught composition and electronic music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he founded and directed its Electronic Music Studio. Many of  Martin's   songs and choral works use  words by his twin brother, Peter . In 1997 their  documentary music drama  Quito, about  schizophrenia and East Timor, was awarded  the Paul Lowin Composition Award (Song Cycle). The Song Company has performed this work in Amsterdam, den Bosch, Copenhagen, Gent, Groningen, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Cascais (Portugal) as well as in Sydney and Kangaroo Valley,where Wesley-Smith now lives, raising  aid for Timor-Leste . 

In 1987 he received the Australia Council's  Don  Banks Composer Fellowship. In 1998 he was awarded an AM (Order of Australia) for services to music, as a composer, scriptwriter, children's songwriter, lecturer, presenter of multi-media concerts and a member of various Australia Council boards and committees.

Other  issues he has covered ;   Who Killed Cock Robin? (1979) had a choir wondering if the real culprit was not  the sparrow  with his bow and arrow but pesticides instead; Weapons of Mass Distortion (2003) deplored official propaganda, doublespeak, lies etc, especially those that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and Papua Merdeka (2005) brought  attention, through sound and image, to the suffering of the people of West Papua.  Rob Wesley-Smith's long  involvement in  the  East Timor struggle  has  been extensively covered  in  Little Darwin. (Photo by  Cathy Heptinstall.)