Are you Canadian?
Trees with a bouquet of frosted green atop a slender bunch of black stems emerged from dirt more orange than Tang. Blanketing the sky were tufts of clouds in even rows from horizon to horizon. The sky was so pure and clear those clouds felt as though they might float right down to the ground. A flock of young emus with glossy black feathers dashed between scrubby bushes while skidhawks glided above.
The outback is a foreign country that urban dwellers recognise is there but rarely venture into. Even the English language takes on a new flavour - an easy drawl keeping banter to a crawl and names like Mozzie or Gypsy. When you step into a bar you are stepping into the beating heart of the outback's society - tread carefully, this is sacred ground. This is where people come together, discuss business and preserve a delicate web of relationships. What is spoken in the pub stays in the pub as the publicans carefully explain. "The young girls here now don't understand that you can't repeat what is said here." complains Tanya the publican. She recounts how two girls repeated some loose gossip about some locals and caused enormous community strife as a result.
We also witnessed the negative impact of 'foreigners' in the nearby hotel. Unlike the Cannungra, it had been revamped with faux outback styling including a piece of shiny corrugated iron facade on the bar. As we drove past we observed that they had rustled up a performer for the same evening in a move of typical competitiveness. We reported it to the publicans at Cannungra Hotel. With disgust they explained that the competing hotel had been bought by a couple from the Gold Coast who were hell-bent on driving their premises into insolvency by ensuring they had entertainment the same evening. With a local population of about two hundred and a shortage of local entertainers the lack of cooperative spirit was clearly an unnecessary addition to local culture.
So it was entirely forgivable that we didn't experience an enthusiastic embrace wherever we went. While we felt like foreigners in our own country it quickly became clear that our presence had been noted and appreciated (albeit with caution). This was most evident when after the gig in our second night at Tambo, the publican said to me, "The whole town has been trying to figure out where you're from - are you Canadian?"
The outback is a foreign country that urban dwellers recognise is there but rarely venture into. Even the English language takes on a new flavour - an easy drawl keeping banter to a crawl and names like Mozzie or Gypsy. When you step into a bar you are stepping into the beating heart of the outback's society - tread carefully, this is sacred ground. This is where people come together, discuss business and preserve a delicate web of relationships. What is spoken in the pub stays in the pub as the publicans carefully explain. "The young girls here now don't understand that you can't repeat what is said here." complains Tanya the publican. She recounts how two girls repeated some loose gossip about some locals and caused enormous community strife as a result.
We also witnessed the negative impact of 'foreigners' in the nearby hotel. Unlike the Cannungra, it had been revamped with faux outback styling including a piece of shiny corrugated iron facade on the bar. As we drove past we observed that they had rustled up a performer for the same evening in a move of typical competitiveness. We reported it to the publicans at Cannungra Hotel. With disgust they explained that the competing hotel had been bought by a couple from the Gold Coast who were hell-bent on driving their premises into insolvency by ensuring they had entertainment the same evening. With a local population of about two hundred and a shortage of local entertainers the lack of cooperative spirit was clearly an unnecessary addition to local culture.
So it was entirely forgivable that we didn't experience an enthusiastic embrace wherever we went. While we felt like foreigners in our own country it quickly became clear that our presence had been noted and appreciated (albeit with caution). This was most evident when after the gig in our second night at Tambo, the publican said to me, "The whole town has been trying to figure out where you're from - are you Canadian?"
