Northern NSW Community Recovery Tour - Day 3 - Pallamallawa

Date: Thursday, March 27th

Venue: Pallamallawa Memorial Hall

Numbers : 27

Pecan Gift Packs presented to the author: Zero

At the risk of repeating myself, it rained - a lot. So much so, that the Moree Plains Shire had closed all unmade roads. This is not conducive to having an audience, but having witnessed the standard of resilience set by Lloyd, who spent half the day mowing through the pouring rain, we decided we’d push ahead with the show.

Mowing requires patience with wet grass. You have to slow to a crawl so the blades don’t slip. He was still going when we drove past an hour later. I found his lonely pursuit & his optimistic hope that his jacket would dry in the rain, quite inspiring. If Lloyd can perform in the rain, I can perform in an empty hall.

Pallamallawa is the biggest producer of Pecans in the southern hemisphere. However, there was no basket of pecans & related products awaiting me in my dressing room. Though, I’m sure there was no chacuterie board awaiting Lloyd when when he was done, so I absolved to pushed on.

(An example of the kind of gift pack I was naively anticipating)

‘Pally’ is at the eastern tip of the Moree Plains Shire, bordering on the Gwydir Shire. The difference is stark when you cross the shire boundary on the River Rd on the edge of town.

( The border between the shires. The Gwydir shire begins at the dirt road)

(No photoshop was involved in this picture)

(Moree Plains take credit, but Lloyd is the primary reason for the stark difference between the shires)

I’d played the Pallamallawa Memorial Hall on a previous tour with the National Emergency Management Agency. Last time, the Public School Principal put up welcome signs. However, she failed to come to the show. I rang her from the stage to establish why she was there – A mountain of corrections? School council meeting? Proof reading reports? – No, she was watching The Block. This time, there wasn’t even a sign. Disappointing.

Pally has a classic rustic tin hall, surrounded by more recent memorial tributes, that are regularly obscured by the guy who owns this semi trailer. Nice one dickhead!

At the previous show, I had a crack at the crowd about the Queen being hidden away in the store room. I rescued her & then handed the portrait over to the Hall President Col, making him guarantee that she be returned to pride of place. Yesterday, I found her in the CWA cupboard.

(A chastened Col after we’d signed the memorandum)

Numbers were predictably low, but the modest collection of tables were sparsely occupied by a healthy cross section of people from town and off the land. The assembly was thankfully boosted by some who come across from Moree, Bingara, Delungra & even Lismore (Thanks Wombat!)

One family came in late having had to make detours to get passed closed roads. I had a lovely chat with them after the show. All was going well until I faked to do an Aussie Rules handball with the young fella’s rugby league ball. … ‘Stranger danger!’ his dad playfully quipped as he ripped the ball out of my hands.

Jacob, Courtney & Belle were in early 20’s and sat up the front. They looked like they’d stepped out of a modelling shoot for a rural lifestyle magazine, so I sequestered their help to recreate a photo from the local general store calendar in 1967.

(Unsurprisingly, Lloyd was there photobombing the shoot in 1967)

The show had an unorthodox start, that set the tone for the rest of the show. Because of the smallish crowd, with little warning, Sandy decided to start the show without the usual break after the speeches. This meant that Heidi hadn’t had a chance to get my head set mic on, change the computers over on the HDMI input or set up the ‘walk on’ music. While we tried to fast track this process, Sandy began to introduce me on to the stage. To buy time, I decided to interrupt her & correct the errors in my bio.

Sometimes the small shows are the most fun and this was no exception. As the opening was so loose & informal, it enabled me to shake up the audience/performer relationship. This sense of playfulness allows me to find new variations in stories and material I may have done many times previously. Tailoring a significant amount of the photo montage, also gives the show personalised feel, as I leave room for back and forth from the audience.

In fact, I loved his show so much, I decided to rip up my written complaint about the lack of a pecan product gift basket in my dressing room.

(The intimate Pally crowd are shown some alternative town signs)

(The touring team pictured with the author - Heidi Carolan, Sandy McNaughton & Letisha Cross)

( The author with the rescued Queen pic, again receiving false promises from Col)

(The author’s dressing room. The Queen was rescued from the CWA cupboard at the rear)