Friday, 7 August 2026

Tony's top 50 albums (not including classical)


In no particular order...



Deep Purple - Machine Head

Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life

Stevie Wonder - Innervisions

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John - Captain Fantastic

Steve Miller Band - A Journey From Eden

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - Déjà Vu

The Beatles - Abbey Road

The Beatles - The White Album

Led Zeppelin Four

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

Bad Company - Bad Company

Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run

Carol King - Tapestry

Neil Young - Harvest

Neil Diamond - Hot August Night

Alan Parsons Project - Pyramid

Alan Parsons Project - The Turn of a Friendly Card

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Focus - Moving Waves

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Simon and Garfunkel - The Concert in Central Park

Santana - Inner Secrets

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis again

Cleo Laine and Ray Charles - Porgy and Bess

Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-Tette

Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the Night

Doobie Brothers - Minute by Minute

Gordon Lightfoot - Gord’s Gold

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Lady Land

Abba - Voyage

David Bowie - Blackstar

Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly

Michael Franks - The Art of Tea

George Benson - Breezin’

Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn

Woodstock

Joe Jackson - Night and Day

Creedence - Cosmos factory

Melanie - Melanie

Harry Chapin - Veraties and Balderdash

Bob Marley - Legend

Dave Brubeck - Time Out





Queanbeyan's Omar Musa wins $60,000 Miles Franklin award



Omar Musa took out the prestigious award with his novel, 'Fierceland'.
Picture courtesy Impact Week 2026 Singapore

By Liz Hobday

When Omar Musa discovered he’d won Australia’s premier book prize, he literally stopped in his tracks.


The author was in the Philippines when he received news he had taken out the Miles Franklin Literary Award, leaving him standing still in the middle of the street.


“I was just gobsmacked, totally blown away,” he said.


The author from Queanbeyan took six years and 21 drafts to write his second novel, Fierceland, and said he never expected his efforts to be so recognised.


“It’s hard work, you’re broke most of the time, full of self-doubt and imposter syndrome, as well as exciting breakthroughs and adventures along the way,” Musa said.


The winner of the prestigious $60,000 book prize, awarded annually to a novel of the highest literary merit about Australian life, was announced at a ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday evening.


A globe-spanning family sage with mythical elements, Fierceland is the story of Sydney artist Roz and tech entrepreneur Harun, who return to the island of Borneo for their father’s funeral.


Their family’s wealth was built on the palm oil trade and the novel deals with colonialism, capitalism and the destruction of Borneo’s rainforests.


Must said he was careful not to be heavy handed exploring those issues, keeping human drama at the centre of the tail - although one of its main characters is the rainforest itself.


“You still want it to be an exhilarating experience for a read - it’s about being playful, even when you’re dealing with matters of life and death, power and exploitation,” he said.


Musa has family ties in Malaysia but was born and raised in Australia.


He was nervous Fierceland might romanticise or oversimplify Borneo, an island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.


He relocated to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, while writing.


Musa tried to replicate the texture and musicality of Malaysian English or “Manglish”, adding readers in Sabah and Sarawak especially welcomed the local references and slang.


“I’m really proud of that, I hope it’s just the beginning and it cracks the door open for a lot of people who were born and raised there to tell their stories,” he said.


It’s estimated Malaysian Borneo has more than 80 native languages and Musa found people who spoke 16 of the tongues to include various translations of the one poem in Fierceland.


The author has also published four books of poetry, four hip hop, records, written a play and held solo exhibitions of his woodcut prints, making it not surprising, he views the demarkation of various art forms as somewhat contrived.


But Musa sees novels, in particular, as a radical way of creating empathy, because readers enter into the thinking of characters different to themselves.


“We need literature and art that pushes the boundaries and creates new vocabulary more than ever, because ultimately, sharing stories is a humanising process, in a world that is so often keen to dehumanise and demonise people,” he said.


First published in The Canberra Times, Thursday August 6, 2026





Sculpture honours Canberra’s ‘Soup Kitchen Lady’



The late Stasia Dabrowski

A life-sized sculpture of Canberra’s ‘Soup Kitchen Lady’ Stasia Dabrowski has been unveiled in Garema Place, close to the spot where she fed people in need every Friday night for more than three decades.

Created by artist Louise Skačej, the sculpture commemorates the Polish immigrant and long-time volunteer, who ran her mobile soup kitchen in Garema Place from 1982 until 2018. Dabrowski died in 2020.

Each week she prepared homemade vegetable soup, bread and drinks for people in need, as well as providing companionship and practical support. By 2000, she was serving more than 300 people each Friday night, with the number growing to about 500 by 2005.

Dabrowski initially funded the operation herself, babysitting and cleaning houses to pay for ingredients. Every Thursday she would peel and cook about 180 kilograms of vegetables in preparation for the following night’s soup kitchen, which was eventually supported by several Canberra organisations.

Her community work earned her numerous honours, including Canberra Citizen of the Year in 1996, ACT Senior Australian of the Year in 1999 and ACT Local Hero of the Year in 2017. She was also an Olympic torchbearer.

The ACT Government announced the $300,000 sculpture project in 2024 and selected Skačej for the commission last year. Skačej worked with Dean Colls, Isabeau Colls and Mads Hillam, with Australian sculptor Peter Corlett as mentor.

The sculpture forms part of a government program to increase the representation of significant women in Canberra’s public art collection. New Ngunnawal Dhawura artworks, including four illuminated poles and a seat featuring laser-cut totems and stories, have also been installed in Garema Place.

First published at Canberra City News, August 7, 2026



Neeman to play Kelly’s unfinished Sonata



Edward Neeman at the keyboard. Photo: Peter Hislop

By arts editor HELEN MUSA

Virtuoso pianist Edward ‘Teddy’ Neeman will become part of a move to restore the reputation of one of Australia’s most gifted composers when he performs Frederick Septimus Kelly’s unfinished Sonata in F minor in Canberra next week.

The sonata, the centrepiece of Neeman’s lunchtime recital in the Larry Sitsky Recital Room at the ANU School of Music on August 11, was the last major work Kelly left behind before he was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, aged just 35.

Best remembered today as an Olympic gold medal winning rower, Kelly was born in Sydney but built an international reputation in Britain as a virtuoso pianist and composer. A close friend of war poet Rupert Brooke, he fought at Gallipoli, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery, before being redeployed to the Western Front. He was killed on November 13, 1916.

Neeman became fascinated by Kelly’s music through Canberra musician and Flowers of Peace director Chris Latham, whose long campaign to revive Kelly’s legacy has included recordings, concerts and the recent documentary Elegy.

Latham persuaded Neeman to learn the sonata for commemorative performances in Canberra and Melbourne marking the 110th anniversary of Kelly’s death.

“It is a great piece and I think it hasn’t yet been done justice,” Neeman says.

He believes the work deserves to be heard alongside the established piano repertoire. While composer and Neeman mentor, Larry Sitsky, wrote of it in his survey of Australian piano music as conventional, in the style of early Chopin or Hummel, Neeman hears something much more ambitious.

“It is far more adventurous than that,” he says, explaining how dense, satisfying and challenging it is for a pianist.

Only two complete movements and part of a third survive from what is believed to have been intended as a four-movement sonata. According to Neeman, Kelly worked feverishly on the manuscript until the day before he left for active service on the Western Front in May 1916.

The Canberra recital is effectively a preview for Latham’s larger commemorative project in November. Neeman and his pianist wife Stephanie will take part by performing the sonata on November 13.

Neeman’s recital, part of a lively ongoing lunchtime series spearheaded by staff at the ANU School of Music will also include works by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Elisabeth von Herzogenberg.

Lunchtime recital, Larry Sitsky Recital Room, ANU School of Music, August 11.

First published at Canberra City News, August 5, 2026.


Thursday, 6 August 2026

Six artworks to see at the newly reopened Brett Whiteley Studio


By Hannah Story

After two years closed for renovations, Brett Whiteley Studio has reopened with an exhibition that includes The balcony 2, one of the artist's paintings of Sydney Harbour. (Supplied: AGNSW/Anna Kučera)

In 1985, Archibald-winning artist Brett Whiteley and his then-wife Wendy bought a T-shirt factory and warehouse on Raper Street in Sydney's Surry Hills.

They quickly converted it into a studio and exhibition space, where Whiteley lived from 1987 when his marriage disintegrated, until 1992, the year he died of an opiate overdose in a motel room in Thirroul, north of Wollongong.

Whiteley has become a legendary figure in Australian art, with his art inspiring countless artists and studied in schools across the country. (Supplied: Andrew Fisher)

The studio, sold to the NSW Government by the Whiteleys' late daughter Arkie, was entrusted to the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), which left the artist's studio intact — down to Whiteley's art supplies and a half-finished finished painting of Sydney Harbour.

In that way, the studio offers a precious insight into the process of an influential artist, with an adjoining exhibition space showing completed works.

"I think the romance of [Whiteley's] life story sometimes overshadows his accomplishments and success as an artist," Nick Yelverton, curator of Brett Whiteley Studio, says.

"At the end of the day, the man could really draw and paint well and the work is really strong and speaks for itself."

Two years ago, the studio closed for extensive renovations to make the building safer and more accessible, with its leaky roof replaced and climate-controlled air-conditioning installed.

"Where else in Sydney can you see an artist studio exactly how it was, exactly how they left it?" Yelverton says. 
(Supplied: Cieran Murphy)

Now, it's reopened its doors, with a new exhibition celebrating Whiteley's life and legacy, Coming Home, collecting both his work and personal items, including a 1985 letter from musician Paul Kelly.

Here are six of Whiteley's works you can see at his newly reopened studio:

Alchemy

Yelverton recalls feeling "dumbstruck" when he first saw the artist's "ginormous" 1976 painting Alchemy.

"I'd never seen anything quite like it in my life," he says.

Whiteley spent a year working on the painting in the early 70s in his studio — formerly a coal storage building — on Sydney's Lower North Shore.

"It's often described as an allegorical self-portrait," Yelverton says.

At 16 metres wide, and spread across 18 wood panels, Alchemy features imagery Yelverton describes as "surreal, eclectic and mind-boggling", including an exploding sun on the far left.

"If you read it left to right, it tells a life-to-death story," the curator says.

"I kind of see the work as a road map of Brett's life that shows us where he's been and what's inspired him."

"Alchemy (detail from) is the business of seeing what doesn't exist,"
Whiteley wrote in his notebook.
 (Supplied: AGNSW)

It's also remarkable for its use of found objects, like dentures, animal bones and a taxidermied bird.

"By incorporating found objects into his pictures, he sought to narrow the gap between life and art in his work," Yelverton says.

And if Alchemy seems oddly familiar but you've never seen the painting before, it might be because it features on the cover of British rock band Dire Straits' 1984 live album of the same name, as Whiteley was friends with the band's frontman Mark Knoplfer and bass player John Illsley.

It's a little extra evidence of the role music played in Whiteley's life and career; at the studio his 600-album-strong record collection is often playing on his old turntable.

The green mountain, Fiji

Whiteley painted The green mountain, Fiji in 1969, during the five months he lived in a hut in the village of Navutulevu.

Whiteley moved there after two years living in New York, at the Hotel Chelsea, where he became friends with musicians Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan and joined the Vietnam War protest movement.

While his activism inspired him to create the almost-22-metre work The American dream, he left the city feeling burnt out.

Fiji then proved creatively fertile for Whiteley in a different way to New York.

"In this work, he depicts a bird, leaving its nest and flying high into the sky," Yelverton says. "The scene is set against an idyllic backdrop comprising rolling green mountains, palm trees and verdant vegetation.

The green mountain, Fiji was once owned by Nobel Prize-winning Australian author Patrick White,
who later gifted the painting to AGNSW.
 (Supplied: AGNSW)

"I read the bird leaving the nest as an allegory for Brett leaving Australia in 1959. He ended up spending about 10 years overseas, living and working in Europe, Morocco, the United States and Fiji."

Yelverton suggests the "exaggerated depiction of the undulating landscape in the background" is a nod to Australian landscape painter Lloyd Rees, who had been a formative influence, and later a friend and mentor to Whiteley.

The mottled effect of the green paint was caused by raindrops falling on the canvas as Whiteley painted outside, as Whiteley explains in a handwritten note in the bottom corner of the painting.

That note also "laments" a proposal to bulldoze the mountain to create a road for Australian tourists.

"This work demonstrates Brett's love of and concern for the natural world," Yelverton says.

View from Raper St studio

Whiteley had initially intended to send this hyper-detailed drawing, View from Raper St studio, to his mother, Beryl, who he used to call "Snig", before that nickname transformed into "Ning" — his daughter Arkie's mispronunciation.

Dated 1985, it was drawn the year he and Wendy bought and converted the warehouse and studio, and shows the view from its window, as it looked in the mid-80s — a very different look to Surry Hills today.

View from Raper St studio is one of two letters to Beryl included in the exhibition
Brett Whiteley: Coming Home.
 (Supplied: AGNSW)

"In this drawing, he depicts tight clusters of Victorian terrace houses, a cobbled street, telegraph poles and timber fences, in extraordinary detail," Yelverton explains.

"What I love about this work is it evokes the grungy character of Surry Hills before it was gentrified.

"I doubt there are many artists who could afford to buy a studio in Surry Hills these days, which is a shame because artists like Brett help make places like Surry Hills a cool, desirable place to live."

At the bottom of the drawing, Whiteley described his new studio as a "kasbah" that "stood out like a fort amongst these terraced houses".

Why didn't he ever post the letter? Or one other letter that also appears as part of Coming Home? Wendy told Yelverton: "If he liked the drawings, he kept them."

Red roof with fence

Whiteley first created Red roof with fence in 1970, not long after he returned to Australia.

Yelverton says the suburbs in the background "form a beautiful pattern
when you step back andsee the work as a whole".
 (Supplied: AGNSW)

It features real wooden fence palings — sourced from his home in Lavender Bay, where he painted so many of his iconic views of Sydney Harbour — which were applied on top of the oil painting, giving the work a sculptural quality.

He reworked Red roof with fence in the early 80s, adding the terracotta-roofed houses and telegraph poles of the suburbs to the landscape behind the red-brick home in the foreground.

"In this work, [Whiteley is] trying to re-create the look and feel of an Australian backyard," Yelverton says.

"For me, it brings back memories of hitting cricket balls over the fence at my childhood home in the suburbs. I find it incredibly nostalgic.

"In this work, I think Brett is rediscovering his love and appreciation for Australian life after living and working abroad for a decade."

It was no small thing for Whiteley to do. Yelverton explains the artist loved the natural beauty and wildlife of Australia but thought its culture could be "conservative and backward" after two decades of conservative federal government.

Self-portrait in the studio

Whiteley won the Archibald Prize for his 1976 painting Self-portrait in the studio — one of the most well-known of his works.

Inspired by Henri Matisse's The Red Studio (1911), which he had seen in New York, Whiteley painted a scene of his studio in Lavender Bay, in a rich shade of ultramarine blue — a colour Whiteley said had an "ecstasy-like effect upon my nervous system quite unlike any other colour".

The mirror Whiteley used to paint Self-portrait in the Studio, which features in the work, will also be on display
as part of the exhibition.
 (Supplied: AGNSW)

While the image includes a view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a naked woman's body, the artist's chair and glass coffee table, Whiteley himself can only be seen as a reflection in a mirror in his hand at the bottom of the painting.

Some of Whiteley's hair is even attached to the canvas, again adding a sculptural dimension.

"It's essentially a portrait about making a self-portrait," Yelverton says.

"We can see one hand holding the mirror and another hand painting, which is a common motif in Brett's works.

"It begs the question: What is the true subject of this work? The act of creation or is it the artist's self-portrayal?"

When Whiteley's self-portrait won the Archibald, it challenged traditional ideas of portraiture — eschewing realism in favour of a broader representation of the artist at home.

It's also been referenced by other artists, including Natasha Walsh, whose 2022 Archibald finalist painting Dear Brett (the blue room) borrows Whiteley's colour palette and the face in the mirror.

Wendy sleeping

Whiteley's wife Wendy often posed for the artist during their 30-year marriage.

"She appears in some of his greatest works," Yelverton says.

In a statement, Wendy Whiteley said the Brett Whiteley Studio is "not a museum relic,
but [is] a living place of creativity".
 (Supplied: AGNSW)

This drawing of Whiteley — created using pen and a fat paintbrush loaded with ink — from 1973 is one of a handful the artist made of her sleeping.

"Brett's adoration of Wendy is keenly felt in this work," Yelverton says.

"I feel he hasn't idealised or sexualised her. He simply captured her natural beauty during a fleeting private moment shared between husband and wife."

While the couple divorced in 1989, Wendy continues to manage the artist's estate, following the death of their daughter Arkie from cancer in 2001.

Yelverton describes her as the "driving force" behind the studio as a public gallery.

"Her hard work and commitment to the studio ensures that Brett's work and legacy will be preserved for future generations," he says. "She's an extraordinary woman."

Brett Whitely: Coming Home is at Brett Whiteley Studio, Sydney.

First published at ABC News, July 30, 2026



Canberra and Queanbeyan a little quieter following shock death of town crier



By Claire Fenwicke

Audrey wrote of her father, Joseph McGrail-Bateup: “He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.” Photo: Facebook.

Messages of shock, sadness, and love have poured in following news that Canberra and Queanbeyan’s official town crier, Joseph McGrail-Bateup, has died unexpectedly.

The 58-year-old recently set the Guinness record for the world’s loudest shout (he was already in the book for the fastest time to shoot 10 arrows into a target) and also gathered a legion of fans hosting the No-Name Trivia Show each Tuesday night.


His daughter took to social media to break the news that her “beloved” father had died on 31 July.


“I love him with all my heart, and even when he was a lot, most would have to admit that they loved him too. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him,” Audrey wrote.


“I appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and support during this difficult time.”

His friends took to Facebook to express their sorrow at the loss of ‘Lord Joseph’.


“No doubt he was one of the kindest human beings I’ve ever met in my life,” wrote one.


Another described him as an “Australian legend, archer and town crier”.

“RIP Lord Joseph … the loudest voice and truest bow in the sky,” she wrote.


A long-time No-Name Trivia Show listener expressed the joy Joseph had brought to his life for the past five years.


“I really loved the interaction among the hosts and the viewers that was encouraged, whether it be viewer comments, trivia answers, etc and it was great to have a special guest every week that often used to reflect and talk about their past and present career, a rare chance to have them recorded ‘on film’ doing that,” he wrote.


“I have made online friends thanks to the No-Name Trivia Show. I also remember now more treasured phone calls between myself and Joseph.


“Joseph was so very talented until his sudden death.”


Canberra and Queanbeyan also expressed their sadness and support for Joseph’s friends and family.


ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said Joseph brought a “sense of tradition, colour and occasion” to several events and celebrations across the Territory.


“Joseph was a wonderful ambassador for our city and recently earned a Guinness World Record as the world’s loudest town crier, a testament to the enthusiasm and spirit he brought to his role,” he said.


“Through his warmth, character and dedication, Joseph became a cherished part of Canberra’s identity. Canberra is a little quieter today without him, but his voice, spirit and contribution to our city will long be remembered.”


Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council mayor Kenrick Winchester also expressed his disbelief at the news.


“It was only last fortnight that we provided our town crier, Lord Joseph, with official congratulations for breaking the world record for loudest voice – to then hear the news of his passing … has been a great shock,” he said.


“May he rest in peace.”

Joe's funeral will be held on Friday August 14 at 11am, at Craig's Hill Chapel, 63 Middle Arm Road, Goulburn.


First published at Region, August 5, 2026