Tucked
away in a Darwin church
is a battered
looking piano with an
interesting tale to tell . Built
in Chicago about 90 years ago, a Gulbransen, number 223438, it
was originally a pianola player and spent
time on the verandah of a homestead in
the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. Brought to
Alice Springs , it sat on another
verandah for a decade and was
then handed over to Pastor Basil
Schild, the Town Camp Chaplain, described by the
media as the “ Radical Lutheran” when he spoke out strongly about the disastrous impact of alcohol on Central Australian communities, appalled by the large number of funerals he conducted where the cause of death had been alcohol related . He
and his
brother, Derek , both accomplished musicians , performed
in a protest song against
a proposed uranium mine near Alice
Springs, a video clip NUCLEAR KOP is available on YouTube.
Pastor Schild
brought the piano , which still plays wonderfully, to Darwin last
year when he was appointed
to the Nightcliff
Uniting Church. When the piano
was taken to the manse , removalists said it was too heavy
to carry up the stairs, so it was placed in the
church . Pastor Schild
is shown above tickling the
ivories
