12 minute read
Connie de Dassel On the highs and low notes in life
For over 30 years, Maclean resident Connie de Dassel OAM worked as a music teacher at the Maclean Music Academy.
During that time, Connie together with the other musicians, helped to inspire and build confidence in their young students, by giving them the opportunity to perform on stage in their many musical productions, bringing live entertainment to the Lower Clarence community.
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Although retiring from the Academy almost three years ago, Connie still teaches privately.
In the lead up to Connie’s recent 80th birthday, Journalist - Lynne Mowbray sat down with Connie to get an insight into her life, which, just like music, has had its highs and lows.
Connie said that she was born in Moree in 1941 and has always had an interest in music.
“I started playing the piano at the age of three and I haven’t stopped since,” she said smiling.
“Prior to heading off to boarding school in Newcastle at the age of eight, I did correspondence at home – which is similar to the School of the Air, these days.
“I was educated by the Dominican Sisters at San Clemente in Mayfield and studied music while I was there.
“After finishing my education, I went to work at the Bank of NSW – (now known as Westpac), in Sydney.
“I then decided that I wanted a change, so I went to the Catholic Missions in the Solomon Islands, as a lay missionary.
“It was a third world country, and I wasn’t qualified to teach, but I taught anyway. The islanders are a very musical people, and we sang a lot.
“I was very happy up there. That’s where I met my husband Joe, who was also there as a lay missionary and worked as a builder.
“Joe returned to Australia before me and when I had finished my stint up there, I returned to Australia and in 1965 we were married.
“This year marks 56 years, together,” she said.
They settled in Joe’s hometown in Canberra, and over the coming years they had eight children.
When their last child became very sick after developing an allergy to the local pampas grass, they were forced to move away from Canberra.
“There wasn’t much work around at the time and although we didn’t know much about Maclean, we’d heard that there was a caravan park up for sale here,” Connie said.
“We bought it, and we moved our family up here in 1982.
“We ran the caravan park out at the BP service station on the old Pacific Highway (3km from Maclean),” Connie said.
“The children went to school from there at Saint Josephs, Maclean and then high school in Grafton.
“We ran both the caravan park and the service station 24/7, for four years.
Sharing her love of music – Connie during one of her many musicals. Image: contributed
I taught piano, singing and theory - I even learnt the saxophone and then I taught it. I had lots of students and enjoyed it immensely
Connie (centre) with best friends and colleagues over the years Sr Anne Gallagher (left) and Gwen Berman (right). Image: contributed
“After we sold the business, we moved over onto Woodford Island near where the Brushgrove wreckers are located and we lived there for 30 years, before moving into Maclean”.
Shortly after moving from Canberra to Maclean, Connie said that she was approached by someone from Maclean, to play the piano for a concert.
“At the time, Joe had to go back to Canberra to finish off some jobs, leaving me on my own with all the children, out at the service station,” Connie said.
“I mentioned to them, that I didn’t think that I’d be able to do it because I had all these children and a service station. However, they organised babysitters for me, and in 1983 we did our first performance, which was held in the old Maclean RSL Hall,” she said.
After they sold the service station, Connie started working at Bob Little’s supermarket in Maclean, which she managed on Saturday’s.
“I had the job for around five years, when tragedy struck the town,” Connie said.
“On 14 July 1989, there was a dreadful car accident on the Pacific Highway north of Maclean, with local doctor Usha Thakur and two girls from St Joseph’s Primary School, Jade MacDonald and Amanda ZellPateman, being killed”.
“They were coming back from a year six camp at Midginbil Hill (near Lismore), and my daughter Therese was in that accident.
“I left the employ of the supermarket that day when I went up to Lismore (hospital) to help with the children.
“I looked after them for six months, before joining the Sisters of Mercy in Maclean (as a music teacher) in January 1990, and I stayed there for thirty years.
“I taught piano, singing and theory - I even learnt the saxophone and then I taught it.
“I had lots of students and enjoyed it immensely, working with Sister Anne Gallagher and Gwen Berman.
“That was when I first started producing musicals and I was doing them by myself,” she said.
“It came to a point where I decided that it was time to draw everyone together,” Connie said. “So, I asked Mrs Berman to play for me in the musicals and I approached Sr Anne for the ensemble to play, followed by the dancing studios, and the whole creativity of the Lower Clarence was put on show. There were some amazing concerts, simply because we have so many talented people here.
“Over the years there have been many young locals who have begun their performing careers at the Maclean Music Academy.
“Michelle Ryan - Soprano, Adam Bowes – actor, Hugh Barrington, Chris Shea, Troy Castle and Connor Willmore to name just a few.
“Some of them haven’t gone on with their music, but they’ve all had a wonderful opportunity,” she said.
“About seven or eight years ago we decided that it was about time to let the young people have a go and so the Clarence Coast Theatrical Society was formed with Troy Castle and some of the others kicking it off,” Connie said.
“A couple of the musicals that were done by the Theatrical Society were Seuzical the Musical and Annie which were produced by Troy Castle and Emma Short. They were wonderful musicals well received by the community.
“All those beautiful students
Connie and her husband Joe. Image: contributed
have all been part of our shows since they were small children.
“I always felt that we were a wonderful team working together to showcase the musical talent of this area.
Connie said that in 2003 when Head Teacher Creative and Performing Arts – Maclean High School, Matt Fisher and his wife Tania first came to this area, they were in one of her musicals, ‘Oliver’.
“Matt played the undertaker and Tania, played his wife, and they were fantastic”.
“Over recent times, COVID-19 has impacted greatly on the entertainment industry. Maclean High School were going to present the musical ‘Grease’ this year, which sadly had to be cancelled.
The Maclean Carols by Candlelight has always been an event not to be missed in the Lower Clarence, and Connie was deeply entrenched in the annual event.
“It would have to be 25 or 30 years ago now, when the Maclean Rotary Club approached me and asked me if we would join together and do the carols, and so we did that for many years,” Connie said.
“We weren’t able to have it last year due to COVID-19 and I’m not sure what’s going to happen this year,” she said.
Apart from the Carols by Candlelight, Connie said that over the years most of the performances have been held in the Maclean Civic Hall; however, the venue is totally inadequate.
“The Maclean Civic Hall is very old and isn’t air conditioned, so it’s very hot in summer and very cold in winter,” Connie said.
“I’m looking forward to the day when we can get back to our performing level, with dance and music eisteddfodau, which I have been involved in for about nine years.
“The music in the area has been outstanding.
“Beautiful soprano, Michelle Ryan was in our shows, and she was educated at the Music Academy, with sister Anne. “She contacts me from Germany now, where she is living.”
In 1997, Connie received the OAM for ‘Services to the General Public’, but sadly – life, like music, has its highs and lows.
“I mentioned earlier that I had eight children,” Connie said.
“They’ve all got a great love of music and they all have a great love of this area, where they all grew up.
“Over two years ago, I was saddened to lose one of my sons, Paul. “We were greatly saddened, and life has changed by his death, but we know that he would want us to keep going and that’s what we are trying to do – every day,” she said.
On a lighter note, in closing, I asked Connie if she would still like to be involved in any way, when COVID-19 allows for musicals and carols etcetera to return to the stage.
“I’ll be looking on,” Connie said laughing. “I’ll be involved. “I’ll be selling tickets out the front, and they’ll be saying, ‘remember that old girl’?”
Related story: https://clarencevalleynews.com.au/ former-academy-students-reunite/
EXHIBITIONS
Entangled: Charlotte Haywood 24 September to 28 November 2021 Up to 80: Ken Done 1 October to 28 November 2021 The Supers: Craig Tuffin 5 November 2021 to Sunday 1 May 2022 At Home: Margaret Olley & Ben Quilty 13 November 2021 to 20 February 2022 Softening the Eyes: Nadja Kabriel 3 December 2021 to 30 January 2022 Beauty for Beauty’s Sake: David Preston 3 December 2021 to 30 January 2022 Experimenta Life Forms: International Triennial of Media Art 10 December 2021 to 30 January 2022
AT HOME:
This exhibition tells the story of mentorship, art and friendship between Margaret Olley (1923 – 2011) and Ben Quilty (b. 1973), two of Australia’s most celebrated artists.
At home is a sublime collection of recent still life paintings by Ben Quilty alongside still lifes and interiors by Margaret Olley, from the latter half of her extraordinary career.
Our new, post-COVID world inadvertently offered a context for the making of work by Quilty that finds synergy with Olley’s dedication to painting still life. During the 2020
COVID-19 lock-down Quilty turned to ordinary objects as subject matter for painting – something Olley did for many decades in her own Duxford Street home studio.
The exhibition will also include Ben Quilty’s Archibald Prize winning portrait of Margaret Olley which propelled their friendship into the media spotlight in 2011, just months before Olley passed away at 88 years of age.
At home brings their work together to reflect on the everyday as subject matter for painting and as a humble vehicle for the contemplation of humanity.
p pa ai in nti ting ng st ti il ll l lif fi e e. . Dur urin ing th ht e e 20 02 20 2
Ben Quilty (b.1973) Margaret Olley 2011 oil on linen 170 x 150 cm Collection of the artist © The artist
Ben Quilty in his studio, 2020 Photo: Christopher De Rouw
UP TO 80:
Ken Done 1 Oct to 28 Nov 2021
Ken Done AM is one of Australia’s most recognisable artists. His latest exhibition titled Up to 80 will be on dispay at Tweed Regional Gallery from Friday 1 October to Sunday 28 November 2021. The exhibition will bring together a vivid collection of works completed by Done from the last two decades.
Known for his vibrant and colourful depictions of iconic Australian scenes from Sydney Harbour and sun-drenched beaches to tropical coral reefs and the Outback, Done magically captures the essence of how it feels to be Australian. He says, “My paintings are quite unashamedly a response to the great joy of living in Australia.”
Done held his first exhibition at the age of 40, and since then, he has held over 100 one-man shows, including major exhibitions in Australia, Europe, Japan and the USA. His works have been shown in the Archibald, Sulman, Wynne, Blake, and Dobell Prizes.
Now at the age of 81, he continues to work with the same passion and vigor, working from his idealic harbourside studio “the cabin” at Chinamans Beach in Sydney. With no plans to retire, Done will weild his brushes and oil crayons until he “falls off the twig”.
Amber Creswell Bell, author of Ken Done: Art Design Life wrote, “if you were to ask Ken how long it takes him to complete a painting, he will tell you ‘roughly eighty years’. He’ll also tell you that at age eighty he’s a much better painter than he was at forty, and we should probably wait to see how good he is at ninety.”
Gallery Director Susi Muddiman said, “We are so pleased to host this exhibition of beautiful work by iconic and well-loved Australian artist Ken Done.”
“This exhibition will represent many of the artist’s favourite and best-loved subjects, and I am certain the colourful and fun works will bring joy to our visitors.”
Ken Done AM Cadmium Orange Studio 2012 oil and acrylic on canvas, 102 x 122cm. Courtesy of Ken Done Gallery © The artist
Experience the extraordinary re-creation of Margaret Olley’s home studio, complemented by a dynamic program of changing exhibitions and views to Wollumbin/Mount Warning.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5.00pm For workshop and event details, including bookings, visit the Gallery website artgallery.tweed.nsw.gov.au/ Group Visits Bookings essential for all groups over 10 people wishing to visit the Gallery. Phone: 02 6670 2712 Email: galleryeducation@tweed.nsw. gov.au Cafe: Gallery by Bacaro Open: Wed to Sun, 9.30am - 4pm Bookings are required for groups of more than 5 people. Reservations: gallerybybacaro.com Phone: (02) 6672 5088 Email gallerybybacaro@gmail.com
2 Mistral Rd, Murwillumbah South
13 November 2021 – 20 February 2022
Open Wed – Sun, 10am – 5pm DST | 2 Mistral Road, Murwillumbah South NSW
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The Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre is a Tweed Shire Council Community Facility and is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
