The Three 'C's

Country Halls, Cool Changes and Cyclones!

Mar 01, 2025

“Let me sing where the rafters ring, in an old-time country hall…” Slim Dusty

As they say in The Phantom… for those who came in late, Nell and I went on tour in northern NSW last weekend.

NOTE: I can heartily re-confirm, Daylight Savings still sucks.

Nell, and our friend, Josh, put on three shows over the weekend and all of them were memorable gigs. We had a lot of fun, got to see some amazing parts of the world and met some wonderful people.

But the standout (for me) was the Coutts Crossing show held in the Coronation Hall.

The old timber building has been lovingly restored by some community champions who have done whatever it takes (legally, I’m sure) to keep the place standing.

And, let me tell you, they’ve knocked it out of the park.

Old halls like this one, feel almost alive with the weight of all the gatherings they’ve witnessed. It’s as if the past hasn’t fully left, just settled into the timbers, waiting for the right moment, or person, to stir it up again.

And it did, because two hours later, during the final encore, I had an out of body experience.

Time seemed to stand still.

I was singing, clapping and dancing with everyone else but, suddenly, became keenly aware of ‘other’ voices.

It was a mix of history, memory, and imagination blending together. Maybe it was the way the light filtered through the old windows, the faint smell of polish and dust, or even the way the sound seemed to carry through the hall.

But I could almost picture the ghostly remnants of past dances, speeches, weddings, laughter, funerals, meetings, birthdays, memorials and tears still lingering in the air.

It was still there long after the show, in the silent and empty hall.

I checked, and the official term for this is: Echoes of Time, or a feeling of Residual Atmosphere.

I don’t know, I’m no mystic, psychic or guru (or even an architect), I’m just passing through this time period myself, but it was quite a pleasant experience.

Wistful nostalgia might be the best way to sum it up?

And, even now, I’m chuckling at the thought that someone, sometime down the track, might even hear my ghostly, raucous, unmistakable laugh and out of time clapping, at some future event!

BTW: Slim wrote this song before a show, while waiting in the dressing room of Gladstone’s old Trocadero Hall. Of course, the Troc was pulled down many years ago in the name of ‘progress’.

Cool Change

It could be the approaching cyclone, but Autumn has come early to Gladdy Town!

Hooray! The cool breezes are pushing the humidity away from the Harbour City!

I tell you this, if the lion is ever going to lie down with the lamb and peace on earth be restored to this tiny rock hurtling around the sun, it won’t be during a February heat wave.

So I say, ‘Welcome Autumn, enjoy your stay!’

Cyclone Season

As usual, they’ve left Gladstone off the map…

There’s a lot to be said for living in a boring part of the world; weatherwise that is.

Here in Gladdy, we don’t get extreme weather events. Sure, we get a lot of muggy days in late Summer, where your clothes stick to you like cling wrap and tempers fray at the slightest provocation.

Boy, it’s been ‘fun’ driving round town lately…

Happily, we rarely get flooded, blown away, big fires, landslides, earthquakes or any of the other many, frequent, weather disasters occurring to the north and south of us.

Cyclone Alfred might be the exception, but I have faith in our town’s location, like I said, we don’t ‘do’ big weather events here.

Traditionally, cyclones form, swing down the coast like a broken spinning top, threatening towns and cities, rearranging beaches with strong surf and big tides, before heading back out to sea to flatten islands in the Pacific, or rocket back up north to wipe out poor ol’ Innisfail.

I’ll keep you posted, after I finish panic buying rice, oats, milk, bread and booze.