Meet Reg Evans. Who?

Reginald Evans was born in 1928 in the United Kingdom and immigrated to Australia in 1960’s where he gained work in commercial radio and toured with the theatre company the Young Elizabethan Players. Although many of the more senior Australians would recognise his face from TV, as a character actor Reg’s name would mean little despite a large body of work in theatre, film, and television over the years. His last movie appearance was in “Charlie And Boots” starring Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobsen. ( A fun little flick. Hands up who remembers it?)

In his latter years Reg lived on property in rural Victoria where he was able to work in his shed and create interesting pieces out of wood. One of the most popular pieces was a cradle believed to be made of 200 year old western red cedar, using carved antique chair backs, which Reg made for a friend’s baby. The wooden cradle was once kept at the St Andrews general store, with a book to record the names of  local babies of families to whom the cradle was lent for use. Carved on the front of the cradle are the names of every baby who has slept in it, over 100 names in all.

In February 2009, the Black Saturday fires devastated the area of St Andrews and Reg Evans and his partner, and their pet dog, were sadly lost attempting to save their farm.

The inscription on the grave site of Reg and Angela states:

“In loving Memory of Reg Evans much loved Father and adored Grandfather “The Hero of Queenstown”. His beloved partner, Angela Brunton “A Beautiful Artist” along with their faithful companion, Baci the dog. Tragically taken by the Black Saturday Bushfires 07.02.2009 One last cradle, one last fiery embrace, when all pain ends and two hearts merge.”

When St Andrews prepared to celebrate its 150 year anniversary a call out was made for the missing cradle. Happily it was found on loan to a family in Canberra and so survived the bushfires. To this day the cradle is still used by local families when not residing at the St Andrews Community Centre. The book has unfortunately been lost, so a complete record of families who have used it no longer remains but this wonderful heirloom and Reg Evans’ legacy to the St Andrews community remains.

How did I learn all this?

At a performance over the weekend by Eric Bogle, musical storyteller and stirrer, probably best known for his anti war anthem ” And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.”

Eric Bogle

• “We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” – Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal
• “Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution — more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to.” – Lisa Cron, Wired for Story