When things seem to go wrong, I have found that three words - NEVER GIVE UP - give me encouragement.
I was born at Warragul, which is a town in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia.
My parents had a property of 200 acres in the rural community of Modella. The history of these 200 acres has an interesting story. My father lived with his parents on their 100 acres. Word came out that one of the neighbours was selling up their property consisting of 100 acres and moving to Warburton. Even though my father was barely out of his teens, he was encouraged by his father to purchase the 100-acre property. There is more to the story, you see the property belonged to the parents of the lady of his dreams. Years later my father married that lady, who is my mother.
My pet on the farm at Modella - Murray Gray
Modella is a small rural community, which is not far from the township of Warragul. Like a lot of small rural communities in Australia, the village hall and the primary school were the central hub. Modella is a very close knit and supportive community.
I attended the Modella Primary School. My mother attended the same school and was taught by James Hirds Great Grandfather. Over the years until its closure in 1993 the Modella Primary School had been both a two-teacher or one-teacher school. It was interesting in how situations can make it a small world. One day the Modella Primary School had a day excursion to a primary school in the neighbouring rural community of Longwarry. I assure you I did behave, how was I to know that I was going marry the sister of teacher of the allotted classroom.
My secondary schooling consisted of catching the school bus to attend the Drouin State High School. There I completed Forms 1-6.
In school uniform waiting for the bus on my last day of High School.
Living on the land is a case of survival. My parents encouraged all of us children to seek employment elsewhere as the "farm was not a paying proposition". Upon completion of Form 6 (the equivalent of Year 12) I had no idea of a career. A friend of the family who was employed at the major printing firm in Warburton suggested that I get an apprenticeship as a printer. As I had no other ideas, I took this friends advice. After 4 years I obtained the trade as a fully qualified printer at the firm. I then continued full-time employment at the firm as a printer, until I became redundant due to dramatic staff downsizing 13 years later.
Over the 17 year period while I was a printer, on the odd occasion I had thoughts of pursuing a career in the funeral industry as I had distant relatives owning and managing a funeral parlour. When I became redundant these thoughts grew to ideas. The relatives were not longer operating the funeral parlour. Unemployment was a very hard pill to swallow. On top of that I was no longer the breadwinner, now Ruth (my wife) was the breadwinner. Months later after numerous job applications to various industries and medical conditions that would not allow me to work as a printer, I had the opening of working as an on-call casual Funeral Directors Assistant to a large funeral firm in Melbourne. About 18 months later the work petered out and I took the opportunity of being involved in a MLM business that revolved around natural & health products. I quickly found I did not have that special talent that successful sales professionals have - they think, eat, dream the products and somehow get one convinced that the products are the right ones to use.
Lock Island is a small island in the middle of the Murray River located at Mildura.
"Never Give Up". In 1995 I looked at the whole thing objectively, for all intents and purposes I was again unemployed, with Ruth being the breadwinner. I asked myself - "where to from here"?
Between 1995 to 1999 I was seeking employment, locating to Mildura in 1996 with the possibility of being a Funeral Celebrant as well as doing seasonal labour with Ruths brother. The Funeral Celebrant opening did not eventuate and I was now doing seasonal labour with Ruths brother who is mentioned earlier.
After a short time doing seasonal work, I became ill. In 1991 I was diagnosed with a medical condition known as sarcoidosis. In mid 2004 I did further research and found that it has the potential to affect major organs of the body that not much is known globally about the illness, the main things to avoid is dust and chemicals. It was now early 1997 the medical condition that I had in 1991 re-occurred. It was at that time I was advised that for 95% of people who get the illness, they have it only once. For the other 5% it can re-occur. So I was one of the 5%. I am so glad that my mother had done water therapy when she did her nursing training. As Ruth could not take much time off work, my parents stayed with us until my mother nursed me back to health. A short time later I was referred to be cased managed and monitored by one of the major hospitals in Melbourne. At my first visit the specialist said that "if he saw the x-rays, he would have put me on the list for an urgent lung transplant". I was so grateful for a mother & the prayers of my family and friends that I did not require such an operation. Since 1997, I have had only one other re-occurrence, but I have been successful in maintaining my health, thus keeping the medical condition under control. I am still on the records for the hospital in Melbourne, but they are pleased that I am one of their success stories - even though I do get called "one of their rebels", reason is that for a few years they thought I was a good boy and taking their medication, however, I had a GP who put me onto alternate medication. When I get disappointed that Sarcoidosis prevents me from obtaining work in the mainstream workforce I would remember the three words "Never Give Up".
In 1998 my wifes employer was streamlining and amalgamating with another employer. To enable a work colleague from the other employer to continue working Ruth elected to take a redundancy package. We then moved to Ballarat, for many reasons including it was a larger centre, we both might have the opportunity to obtain work, it was conveniently located to Melbourne and that I had a rich ancestral history in the Ballarat District.
My wife Ruth put on a Surprise 40th Birthday Party for me at Ballarat
In mid 1999 while I was thinking about what I could do, I had a call to arrange an interview with a staff member from Centrelink, who was looking at career alternatives that would fit my medical condition. I am so grateful that this approach was taken, because I would not have considered myself having a disability requiring the Disability Support Pension (DSP). I am very much an independent person, it was bad enough not being the breadwinner, let alone to be placed on a DSP. At that time I would have felt I was placed on the "scrap heap". However at the interview, the Centrelink staff member was so sensitive to my situation, the subject of the DSP did not come up but rather what career alternatives I could pursue. I advised I thoroughly enjoy music, but where do I start. The outcome of this interview resulted in going through a NEIS (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme) course then 1 year NEIS program to start my own business. Shortly after I commenced the NEIS program, Ruth was able to obtain a constant succession of fixed-term contracts until she sustained injuries in a motor vehicle accident.
I will share a little about our parents:
I will start with Ruths side - Her father was born in September 1906 in Ireland. In 1924 his parents decided to move from Ireland and chose to come to Australia. Her mother was born at Tamworth in November 1914 then a few years later the family moved to Sydney, in those days it was not the City it is today as there were orchards and canals. Her mother died in 1924, a few months later all except one child were put in the Burnside Homes, which is an orphanage. They were there for two an half years. Her mother was so pleased that her father listened to her that she would do a year of domestic science and then would do the housework and care for her younger siblings. Sometimes her older sister would help. Ruths mother had an interesting career before she met Ruths father. They were married in 1940, then moved to the farm at Joadja, NSW, which Ruths father owned. They did not have a honeymoon as they were too poor. They experienced their first tragedy when their oldest son drowed at the age of 2 in 1945. When Ruth was born in 1960 they sold their property of 1,300 acres at Joadja and purchased and moved to their new property of 144 acres at Wirrimah, NSW. In 1969 while they were on their first oversea trip that another son passed away from a heart attack. Ruths parents managed their farm and then 1989 they sold up to retire at Merbein, Victoria. They wanted to be near their eldest living son and his family. Ruths father passed in June 1996 and almost a decade later Ruths mother passed awy in May 2006.
Both my parents were born in Victoria, my father was born in April 1918 at Warragul, my mother was born at Bunyip. As mentioned earlier their parents properties were next door to each other in Modella. My mother did nursing training at the Sydney Adventist Sanitarium. She did not finish her training in 1946 as she married my father when there was only six months left of training to go. My parents sold their property in 1983 and I have dedicated my At Home CD to the time when we were on that property. They moved to an acre of land on which they built their home in another location in Victoria. The Friday before Christmas 2002 my father was diagnosed with an illness and passed away a fortnight later on 3 January 2003. I have two older brothers.
Since 2000 music has become our outlet. Up until we sold our home in 2002, we only had released the "Moods of Nature" CD. As you visit our CDs and CD Outlets pages you will see my other releases since then.
I love those three words "NEVER GIVE UP". From my early childhood I recognised the importance of community orientation. For 3 months in 2002/2003 we were able to participate in a small way in the Farmhand Drought Appeal. From time to time I have been assisting a handful of communities which either myself or my wife can relate to, with their projects.
Since going professional in the music industry I am absolutely amazed and humbled to see the growth. I certainly had no idea that I was pioneering a new genre of music let alone within 5 years one of the tracks been utilised to open an international fashion event and being asked to perform at a worldwide event in the USA. From time to time I hear feedback from our customers. One feedback was a customer was so pleased with the music they were purchasing the CDs for gifts for their close family and friends. That customer said one of the recipients of the gifts thought that I had a doctorate of music. There are many who have taken the time to thank me for the music. These comments are so special when people indicate they are enjoying listening to the music as much as I enjoy creating and performing.
I give thanks to my Heavenly Father for the gifts that He has given to me.
My pet on the farm at Modella - Murray Gray
In school uniform waiting for the bus on my last day of High School.
My wife Ruth put on a Surprise 40th Birthday Party for me at Ballarat 
