Norma in concert
Norma
O’Hara
Murphy
Five-times Golden Guitar winner,
Norma O’Hara Murphy is the real deal.
By MaryAnne Leighton
This golden-voiced singer and prolific song writer is a fair dinkum Aussie, a genuine born-andbred bush kid who breeds and rides Quarter
Horses, recognises the true worth of the land
and the people who live on it and is passionate about the environment. She has rubbed
shoulders with the rich and famous – lunching
with Bob Hawke, drinking out of the Melbourne
Cup and singing the National Anthem with Slim
Dusty. Indeed, she won two Golden Guitars with
songs she wrote for Slim.
Norma is one of the few female artists in the
world who writes, sings and produces her own
albums. She has been described as Australia’s
answer to Bob Dylan and as Australia’s Poet
Laureate of horses and horsemen. She has
released nine albums, seven of which she produced herself, and she was inducted into the
Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
A story teller in the best country tradition,
Norma is a talented artist who has been a won-
derful ambassador for her country throughout
her career. She represented Australia in China
and Japan, has performed on The Today Show
and Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton
and accepted an invitation to ride in the 1993
NCHA Celebrity Cutting alongside Kerri-Anne
Kennerley, Bill Roycroft and John Farnham.
She has sung the National Anthem to 30,000
people at the Mt Isa Rodeo, sung it again on
several occasions at the iconic Warwick Rodeo
and at the NCHA Futurity in Tamworth. She
participated in the Variety Club’s famous Bush
Bash from Bondi to Bathurst, has entertained
at the Australian Stock Horse Association
Championships at Narrabri and performed at
bush campdrafts throughout Queensland.
Her Brilliant Career
Norma has won many awards with songs she
wrote for her good friend Slim Dusty, and she
has written for the Sheik of Scrubby Creek,
Chad Morgan – an artist she describes as an
absolute legend, and totally unique. When We
Were Kids, the duet she wrote and sang with
John Williamson, a song that reminisces about
their childhood as Mallee kids, won the Media
Song of the Year in 1988.
This vibrant and articulate third-generation
Irish-Australian was born and raised on a small
vineyard in Victoria’s Murray Valley, an area
which was pioneered by her mother’s family
and where her grandfather ploughed and
cleared scrub with a team of Clydesdales. Her
mother died when Norma was very young and
she was raised by her Dad. The bush kid and
tomboy developed a love for poetry and horses
at a very early age. When she was introduced
to the magic of Banjo Patterson’s words at
school, Norma began to see the Australia that
Banjo talked about so much and captured in
his works.
Leaving school at 15, Norma spent three
wonderful years as a jillaroo on a big cattle sta-
tion in the Riverina. She left to pursue a nursing
career in Melbourne and Swan Hill and spent
several years travelling around Queensland
before marrying and having four children. She
says, ‘Marriage back then was all-consuming, your children were your life, not like today
where most people just don’t seem to put the
hard yards in. Maybe that’s why there’s so
much trouble around these days.’
Norma cannot imagine life without music.
Encouraged by Grace Adams, the Mistress of
Springdale, she began singing as a very shy
teenager, sang in a choir in the 70s and made
her professional debut in 1973. She placed
second at her solo stage debut at the 1978
Barmera Country Music Festival in South
Australia singing the very first song she wrote,
Darlin’ Billy, which has gone on to become
such a popular choice among up-and-coming
country music singers.
Norma’s first album was inspired by a cowgirl’s
lament at a 1981 rodeo that all the country
songs were about cowboys. ‘When are we
going to get a mention?’ the cowgirl demanded.
Norma replied by composing the song Rodeo
Queen on her way home. At the next Boothill
Rodeo, she sang her new song to an audience
that included the founder of Country Records.
He liked what he heard and the rest is history.
Her first album, released on the Country
Records’ label at the end of 1982, was also
entitled Rodeo Queen and it contains glimpses
of her childhood and golden memories of
rodeo, bush campdrafts, good old horses and
good old mates.
Five Golden Guitars
In eight years, Norma won four Golden Guitars
and had 13 songs in the finals. She received
the Golden Guitar Heritage Award in 1986
with How The Fire Queen Crossed The Swamp
and she is still the only woman to have ever
won this coveted section. Two more Golden
Guitars followed for Female Vocalist of the Year
– in 1991 for Sarah’s Memory, considered by
some critics to be one of the most beautiful
country songs ever recorded, and in 1993 for
the foot-stomping Tamworth (the song). She
received her fourth and fifth Golden Guitars
for songs she wrote for her good friend, Slim
Dusty – Paddy William in 2001 and Just An
Old Cattle Dog in 2003.
Norma wrote Rain in a moment of despair during a drought she thought would never end:
Farmers lookin’ at the sky, eyes are wet but
throats are dry
Creeks are dusty, land cries out for water
We’ll never change this never, never land!
Norma’s best mate, Phil Buddle, believes Barb
Wire and Bamboo, her tribute to the Diggers
who were prisoners of war during World War
II, is the best song she has ever written. Phil’s
dad, JB, was underage when he joined up at
Another day, another tree. Norma is an ardent
conservationist.
Norma’s inspiration comes from this big bold
country of ours, from horses, places, people,
life and the hard times and good times that
go with them. She is a keen observer of what
makes history and what will become history,
and sings from the treetops about the future
of the environment. She used music to work
through her own loneliness when she lived on
an isolated rural property, and the title track of
Closer Now to Rain celebrates the courage and
strength of the legions of very special isolated
rural women who really make the difference
between winning or losing on the land:
Seasons come, the seasons go
The river’s dry, the teardrops flow
But everyday is closer now to rain
Drought is ever present in this arid land and
Winderadeen Quarter Horses presents
Special Kind of Production
SAle
Photos: Mel Cruden
3rd January 2009 At Winderadeen, Federal Highway, Collector Nsw 2581
The Special Kind of Production Sale includes 22 horses.
Broodmares for sale include, Winderadeen Shady Lady,
in foal to HF Somethin Hot. Shady Lady is the dam of top
performers Winderadeen A Shady Past, W Shadow; W
Passing Shade, amongst others. Another real treat is
the Cee a Barpasser mare, W Miss Ladybar, with an HF
Somethin Hot gelding at foot and back in foal to Winderadeen’s newest sire, Invited Tiger. The sale also includes
top quality yearlings in first class condition, as well as
some outstanding 2 year olds that are sure to go on an
be fantastic show horses. The sale horses also comprise
of the 4 year old performed show mare Winderadeen
Sparkofglory, who was Champion at Q8 in the Youth 12
- 14 Hunter Under Saddle and Hunt Seat Equitation, as
well as placing in the 3 Year Old Western Pleasure and
Hunter Under Saddle. Some other 3 year olds for sale are
the very pleasant Winderadeen Trigger Happy, a gentle
and kind chestnut mare who will make a fantastic Youth
or Amateur horse. There is something at this sale to suit
anyones’s aspirations, from top class to just pleasant riding horses. We invite inspection from December 1, 2008.
Just give us a call an arrange a time to come and see
what we have on offer. The upset price is $4,000 – any
bid over $4,000 and they are on the market for sale.
The agents for the sale are: Elders - customer service officer Tammie Grady. 88 Hume Street, Goulburn NSW 2580. Ph 02 4821 3311 FAX 02 4821
8727 Email [email protected] Steve Ridley is the man to talk to and his number is 0407 483 108 - he can arrange a bidder if you are unsure
of this process, telephone bidding or anything else that you may require. Just call him and have a chat. Also available is insurance for your purchases
- Steve Cambridge Insurance will be on site on January 3, but you can also give them a call to talk about your needs on 0417 675 311.
Winderadeen Quarter Horses reputation of success is self evident, and we are offering an opportunity for other
people to come and see a collection of horses of varying ages and abilities for your consideration.
Regards, WINDERADEEN QUARTER HORSES.
Collector NSW • Phone 02 4848 0031 • Fax 02 4848 0008 • Email [email protected]
www.winderadeen.com
Photo: Mike Kenyon
nors and scores of wonderful musicians. Touring took her to Tasmania and WA and in 2003
she was part of an amazing round-Australia
trip, Tamworth on Parade. Her only comment
on that tour is, ‘That was an experience!’
Norma also involved herself in the New England
youth rock scene for a few years, by coordinating a youth rock project she called ‘Heatwave’.
She says, ‘It was a very exciting passion for me,
and also for a lot of country kids who got to play
on a big stage, perform to big crowds and write
and record their own songs.’ It culminated in
all the kids going to a Sydney studio to record
their songs on the Heatwave CD. Unfortunately
Norma ran out of steam after two Heatwave
albums but some of the bands went on to
bigger and better things, with one group from
Glen Innes doing an American tour.
By 2000, Norma had grown tired of the road
and tired of breathing the smoke-filled air in
pubs and clubs. She retired from touring to
concentrate on her passion for writing songs
and this paid off immediately with two Golden
Guitars for the songs she wrote for Slim Dusty.
Is she having a good
time? The grin says it
all - Norma competing
in the celebrity cutting
at the 1993 NCHA
Futurity.
the start of the war. He was captured by the
Japanese in Singapore and barely survived
the murderous Changi Prison and the forced
labour of building the notorious Burma railway.
At the conclusion of the war, JB volunteered
with the Occupying Forces to go to Nagasaki
in Japan after the Americans had dropped
their second atomic bomb on the city. Norma
says, ‘He would never talk about what he saw
and endured, but one year we bought him a big
bottle of Glenfiddich for his birthday and after
everyone had gone to bed, he and I sat at the
table, and as he told me his story I wrote it
down on napkins.’
And we built their bloody railway, soaked with
our sweat and blood
And good men tried and good men died in the
mozzies and the mud
JB told Norma that only the little blokes survived Changi because the bigger men starved
to death on the miniscule ration of rice they
received every second day:
Ta ra ra boom de aye, we had no rice today
You had some yesterday, ta a ra boom de aye
In total contrast, in Norma’s tribute to Australia’s greatest horse race The Melbourne Cup
she issues a challenge to anyone who thinks
they have a horse good enough to win:
Where you can win a fortune, or lose everything you own
For the honour and the glory just to see your
horse come home
This song is special to Norma because ‘As
children we had nothing and we were overawed
by the Melbourne Cup.’ The inspiration for the
lyrics came the year she and Phil were invited
to attend the Cup as VIPs. She says, ‘The sound
of the pipers lifted the hairs on the back of
my neck and I will never forget the thunder
of hooves and sound of the crowd.’ The AJC
featured Norma’s song in a special video clip in
its 1995 international advertising campaign.
Norma’s horses
Touring
Norma says the most important professional
event in her life was when she represented
Australia in China, Japan and the UK in the
1990s. She performed at the inaugural
International Folk Festival at Nanning in China
and, as the first Australian artist ever invited
to China, was greeted at the airport by a guard
of honour. She and Phil were honoured guests
of the Chinese who, even though they did not
understand her English words, just loved her
voice and gentle music. She performed both
for massive audiences and as a soloist for the
Deputy Governor of Guangxi Provence and his
invited guests.
In 1995 she toured the UK and performed
four concerts in Japan where, again to her
amazement, she discovered that the Japanese
also loved the sound of her voice even though it
is so different to their high-pitched light opera.
Norma’s songs still get a lot of airplay in the UK
and the Netherlands and they still feature on
the Qantas playlist.
Phil has been Norma’s sound engineer, manager, right-hand man, constant companion and
support since he first saw her on TV 22 years
ago, accepting her first Golden Guitar Award
in Tamworth. A year later he was the sound
engineer for her River Gums and Mallee Dust
launch. He says, ‘She threw me in the deep
end, my only experience of engineering sound
was to put on a CD and listen to it.’ Touring
with Norma for the best part of ten years, Phil
quickly became expert in all aspects of sound
engineering. They toured all over Australia
and enjoyed many memorable moments with
the cream of Australia’s country entertainers.
Norma recalls performing in a massive dust
storm at a Mallee concert with the Mallee boy
himself, John Williamson, and says ‘I sat on the
edge of the stage and watched John’s hair turn
bright red with dust. It was unbelievable.’ She
also worked with Stan Coster, Alan Caswell,
Anne Kirkpatrick, Jimmy Little, Graeme Con-
Someone who writes and sings so passionately
about horses obviously has a strong connection with them. Norma has been involved with
horses since childhood and she breeds them,
rides them, sells them, writes songs and sings
about them and wins awards with them. She
campdrafted for quite a few years and says, ‘I
figure I am qualified to write about campdrafting – I paid enough entry fees and was cracked
off often enough.’
Her life-long love of horses has inspired many
songs including The Campdrafter, The Old
Brigade, The Warwick Gold Cup, Melbourne
Cup and The Clydesdale. She was an early
member of the Australian Stock Horse Association, discovered palominos and buckskins
and was drawn to Quarter Horses. With no
intention of ever having a stallion, nine years
ago she found herself the owner of Roc Again
Q-26099, an outstanding son of the great
Roc‘O’Lena. She says, ‘I’m just a new chum
in the Quarter Horse world but to me a good
horse is a good horse and after a lifetime with
horses I do truly believe that the Quarter Horse
is the most significant horse that has ever
been imported into Australia. Their courage,
their attitude and their temperament are exemplary. They have introduced a special quality
that was never there, either in the Stock Horse
or Thoroughbred. They are so consistently reliable, extremely smart and intelligent and our
stallion, Roc, throws something in his babies
that makes them pretty special.’
Norma wants to record a tribute album to all
the wonderful Australian horses, saying, ‘There’s
no one else telling the stories and painting the
pictures to keep our wonderful horse industry
alive. Horses are far more than a whim for most
people. They get into your blood.’
Bony Mountain Music
Norma and her family moved to Bony Mountain
near Warwick in 2005 to begin an exciting
new phase in their lives. Norma says, ‘I just
love it here! I can’t really explain that, it’s
everything I’ve ever wanted, my piece of the
Queensland bush with amazing birdlife, koalas
in the trees and big goannas.’ Norma and her
son Ben are switched on to sustainable living,
gardening and, of course, her beautiful Quarter
Horses. An ardent environmentalist, Norma
has transformed the dusty, sandy soil on Bony
Mountain with tonnes of manure and mulch
and semi-loads of sweat. Her motto is, ‘Another
day, another tree,’ and she has planted tens of
thousands of them.
Artists in the spotlight often find it difficult
to live up to other people’s expectations and
Norma says the most comforting thing about
living at Bony Mountain is that her neighbours
like her for herself, they have no silly expecta-
Norma is never happier than when she is with her
horses. Here she shoots the breeze with two youngsters by her beloved stallion, Roc Again Q-26099.
Service Fee $880
Discounts for 2 or more mares.
Excellent mare care.
Photo: Ian Dee - www.deephotos.com.au
Contact Mick Cole &
Lenore Matsen
Ph: 07 49568 378
Email: [email protected]
Standing at “Boothulla” Nebo QLD
tions of her. She says, ‘Around here everyone is
so friendly and you feel just like you belong, we
are accepted as we are, and I have found wonderful inspiration for my songs from around the
Warwick area.’
The long-awaited new album
Norma is proud to be an Australian who writes
and performs 100% Australian material. However, blue eyes flashing, she declares, ‘Australian country music is in danger of losing both its
roots and its identity. It is hard for artists to pursue their careers and be in touch with the land
at the same time and I guess that’s why I live in
the bush. We have a great bush ballad tradition
here in Oz and it has a wonderful following. I
guess that was Slim’s legacy. I’d like to think
someday I’ll leave a good musical legacy as well.
It really is something to be appreciated by the
fans and the faithful, but I believe you must live
the life to be able to write and sing the songs.’
Norma is still living the life and she is using it
to write her tenth album which will be released
next Easter. This exciting new album, her first
for eight years, incorporates powerful lyrics and
haunting melodies inspired by her surroundings.
She says she is, ‘Singing my songs, painting
my pictures, telling my stories about Australia
and my friends.’ She will make appearances at
the top country festivals – including Tamworth
– during 2009 and 2010 and her website will
be launched to coincide with the new album.
Norma O’Hara Murphy is at one with this sunburnt country. She loves the dust, she loves the
rain, she is the voice of the bush, the voice that
Roc Again Q-26099 demonstrates the wonderful
temperament of the QH. Phil is not a horseman
and had never handled a horse, let alone a stallion,
when he took charge of the 9YO Roc during his first
breeding season after Norma had bought him.
sings the praises of this red land, a talented
artist and breeder of fine horses who says, ‘I
have had such an amazing life. I was given such
a special gift and I take it very seriously.’ As seriously as the country music industry takes her.
Kool Olena
15.3hh Sire Registered QH Stallion Q-45238.
Producing lovely, quiet, trainable foals.
Kool OLena is an Open Campdraft Horse. Winning and placing in Open, Restricted Open,
Ladies and Juvenile Drafts. He is extremely quiet and passes this on to his foals.
Mr Jessie James (Imp)
Sire: Jessie’s Koolibah
Kool-Dell
Roc’O’Lena (Imp)
Dam: Eskdale West Roc N Roll
Empire Rose
Photo: Ian Dee - www.deephotos.com.au