north east regional extra | October 20 - 26, 2021
nemedia.com.au
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October 20 - 26, 2021
Back on the road to Wangaratta again
◆ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Mark Stephens (AKA Lazy Harry) launched his first album at Kate’s Cottage in Glenrowan where wife Wendy painted the fabulous mural of Ned in his prison cell (pictured). PHOTO: Belinda Harrison
By BELINDA HARRISON
BEECHWORTH’S loss is definitely Wangaratta’s gain with well-known regional identities Wendy and Mark (Lazy Harry) Stephens moving back to the rural city. In 1974, following the birth of their son Matthew, Mark and Wendy decided to relocate from Melbourne to the North East and bought a home in Graham Avenue, Wangaratta where Wendy had a beautiful art studio - and won the Albury Rotary Art Prize for a piece she created there. In Melbourne, Mark had been teaching history at Wesley College while Wendy was nursing at the Royal Women’s Hospital and for almost two decades after they arrived, Mark taught year 11 and 12 history and English at the TAFE College and Wendy was nursing. In 1976, their daughter Jacqui was born at the Wangaratta hospital, completing their family and Mark and Wendy were involved in a number of community groups and organisations. “Wendy directed and produced ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Twelfth Night’ with large casts and audiences and also ‘The Boyfriend’ with Wangaratta Music Theatre,” Mark said. “At the same time, we both served for many years as judges for the Zonta Theatre Excellence Awards in the North East.” “We were very busy and so happy to be engaged with the community,” Wendy added. “Mark’s love of music and Australian history combined during our years in Wangaratta and the prolific entertainer/singer/songwriter and recording artist ‘Lazy Harry’ was born.” “The name ‘Lazy Harry’ came from the traditional bush ballad ‘We Camped at Lazy Harry’s on the Road to Gundagai’,” Mark explained. “I sang the song at every gig and it reflects so nicely the hard working, fun loving ethos of our early pioneers. “My music career began as a choir boy in Melbourne and I still believe the pipe organ is the “King” of all instruments.”
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