On Saturday, the Snowy Mountains town of Bombala will play host to the seventh regional heat of the Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC). Photo: Lachlan Ross.
In a first for the Snowy Mountains town of Bombala, Saturday (26 October) will see the streets filled with musicians and the sound of music as the town plays host to the seventh regional heat of the Australian National Busking Championships (ANBC).
The international search for Australia’s best busker is now in its 13th year and Bombala can thank the neighbouring town of Cooma for that.
An event which celebrates the rich diversity of Australian music and street performance culture, the ANBC is the brainchild of Allan Spencer, a classical guitarist, music teacher and owner of Cooma Music.
First held in Cooma in 2012 and now held in eight locations around the country, the championships culminate in the national finals in Cooma each year where the winner of the grand final is given the title of Australian National Busking Champion along with substantial prize money.
The Australia-wide network of busking festivals now pretty much covers the length and breadth of the eastern seaboard over a nine-month period, kicking off in the Queensland town of Stanthorpe in February, then Kilmore in Victoria in April, Cooma also in April, back up to Noosa in Queensland in June, then over to The Entrance on the NSW Central Coast, inland to Braddon in the ACT and now Bombala this month.
This year the Braddon festival was postponed due to rain, but that doesn’t look likely in Bombala this Saturday where the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a mostly sunny day.
Around 50 buskers will be taking part in the Bombala heat, some travelling from Victoria and Queensland, but there will be no shortage of local talent also competing for cash, prizes and prestige in the town’s CBD from 10 am on Saturday.
Bombala musician Ron Milliner in action at a Slim Dusty Memorial Concert. Photo: Ron Milliner.
Among them will be Bombala legend, country music singer/songwriter Ron Milliner, now in his late 70s, who will be performing alongside fellow Bombala resident Gus Olding, on the fiddle, and his daughter Gaylene Jennings, who now hails from Cooma, also on vocals and rhythm guitar, and bass.
“I’m supposed to be having a bit of a go,” Ron said, “but I’m not that good so I don’t know how I’ll really go.”
He’s been performing country music for nearly 70 years now, he says, having been influenced by his mother from an early age, and then the likes of Slim Dusty and John Williamson.
“She was an unaccompanied singer; she had bad timing, but she had a beautiful voice,” he said, “and she sang to us as kids.”
She also bought him his first button accordion, after he’d seen someone playing it at the Bombala Hall.
“So, Mum saved her pennies, threepences and two bobs until she saved eight pounds 10 and sent it away to Nicholsons in Sydney and bought me this little button accordion which arrived on the train in Bombala in about 1954,” he said. “I’ve still got it”.
He would go on to write and record songs, and now retired from his earthmoving business, has more time to perform.
Having taken out third placing at the Cooma heat in February, there’s no telling how the home ground advantage will work in Ron’s favour on Saturday, but he’s looking forward to performing and supporting the event.
“I don’t know how many will stop and listen to us, it might be two or three, there might be 20, I dunno,” he said. “I don’t even know if they’ll like what sort of music we play; not everyone likes country music.
“But for me that’s all I play, always have; I love the stories in country music,” he said.
Ron’s playlist will, of course, feature Slim Dusty, John Williamson, a bit of Alan Jackson, Don Williams, Kenny Rogers and Kris Kristoffersen.
Twenty-one busker stations set up around the CBD will allow performers, crowds and judges to circulate around the town’s central business district between 10 am and 2 pm, with the winners announced at 3 pm, and a prize-winners concert to follow.
And in the true spirit of a busking competition and festival, the buskers will be judged according to national criteria, guitar cases will be open, donations accepted and special gold coins will determine a people’s choice award.
The winners of each regional competition are invited to head to Cooma on 30 November, to compete in the grand final.
Stores will remain open, an abundance of food will be on offer, as will free entertainment throughout the day and into the night.
For more details visit the ANBC Bombala Facebook page.
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