It’s certainly making a difference but 2 acres is a lot of yard and it will be a job like painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge: finish at one end and start again at the beginning.
Listening to the radio on Friday morning, I had a reminder of why we live in Tasmania. The ABC was launching its Christmas charity exercise, the Giving Tree. Apparently Tasmania is the only state where the ABC conducts a charity program like this. It started in 1988 and has become something of an institution. A huge tree is erected in the foyer of the ABC HQ in Hobart, and a smaller one in the Launceston studio. People are encouraged to drop in gifts to place around the tree, and there are several fund-raising activities to go along with it: quiz nights, bike rides and so on. In previous years, ABC staff would run a relay from Burnie to Hobart collecting from cars on the highway but that’s been stopped by the police. You can imagine the cries of Scrooge when that was announced.
Even though Tasmania is the poorest state by far, it has the most generous people and, per capita, they contribute more to charity than any other state. So there! Last year, 69000 gifts were received and over $100000 raised (and this from a population of only half-a-million)
At the launch of the Giving Tree, a celebrity turns on the lights.
It’s a bit of an occasion with a choir and TV cameras and, of course, it’s broadcast on radio. That’s what I was listening to and the simplicity of it, and the sense of goodwill and the can-do attitude was moving – very Tasmanian.The celebrity to turn on the lights this year was the Governor, Peter Underwood. He’s done it before but this time he brought along his wife, who is a noted musician, to play the piano.
His speech was a delight: he talked about the updated version of the 12 Days of Christmas, while his wife, Frances, tinkled the tune on the piano. He said that, in the light of budget cuts, the partridge will be retained but the pear tree, which never produced the cash flow forecasted, will be replaced by plastic hanging pears, thus providing considerable savings in maintenance.Two turtle doves represent a redundancy that is simply not cost-effective and, in addition, their romance during office hours could not be condoned. The three French hens will remain intact – after all, everyone loves the French.
The four calling birds will be replaced by an automated voicemail system with a call waiting option. An analysis is under way to determine who the birds have been calling, how often and how long they talked, and so on.
Frances finished the song and then moved straight into a sing-along with Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The Underwoods carry out their roles with dignity but are real people at heart and know when to let their hair down.All good so far, and then the Launceston Examiner got into the act. Their report on the occasion stated: … Governor Underwood gave a humorous speech, accompanied by a pianist … As Groucho Marx might have said, That’s no pianist, that’s my wife! Only in Tasmania!
I must confess a personal interest. We’ve known the Underwood for more than 30 years. Marilyn and I were at their wedding (they had both been married before) and I taught Frances’s two girls, Sarah and Madeleine in Year 5. We used to visit them at their holiday house at Swanwick on the East Coast and spent a lot of time in their company. Frances was the Music Teacher at Friends for many years and Peter was a solicitor who finally agreed to become a judge. He became Chief Justice, Deputy Governor and, finally Governor.
We’ve had dinner with them at Government House, a very grand occasion and they opened the Craft Fair for me in 2008.
So, I can claim to knowing at least two people on the A-list (or at least the B+ list).
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