FEATURE EVENT 3 . RAPID FIRE SARAH McLACHLAN . THE . BACK . Grammy-award winner Sarah . McLachlan is more at home surfing, . STORY telling rude jokes and cooking with . her daughters than playing the . celebrity circuit. Now the 42-year- . old Canadian singer is bringing a . taste of her Lilith Fair – her female- . THIS WEEK: Australia’s unsung heroes are saluted focused concert series she began 13 . in Sue Williams’ latest book Outback Spirit. Among years ago – to Australia. them is Anne Kidd, 68, a veritable angel of the TELL US ABOUT THE FIRST . I remember learning . Queensland Outback for nursing the sick over nearly LILITH FAIR. very early on that you can’t please . five decades. She spoke to Gillian Cumming. everybody and to stick to your guns . and make sure you’re doing what you . want to be doing. And the rest will fall . I’VE never regretted moving to before her nursing expertise was into place. The same has applied this . Windorah (1060km west of officially employed.) . time around. It was amazing to . Brisbane). I’ve never found the life I’ve seen a lot over the years. I’m . reunite with a lot of the artists, some . too hard or had misgivings. not particularly fond of rodeo . of whom I hadn’t seen for 10 years. In those days (1963), you didn’t accidents, that sort of trauma. I’ve . look back. If you decided on seen a lot of broken bones. The first . WHAT DID YOU THINK OF OUR . something, you went ahead. gymkhana I went to, before we were KATE MILLER-HEIDKE? She’s . When Sandy (the son of the married, somebody came off their . fabulous. I’m excited to get to hear . pastoral family who had employed horse and was knocked out or . her live and play with her. 21-year-old Anne to nurse Sandy’s something – and in those days there . elderly grandmother) proposed, it were no ambulances. They’d look at WHO IS LILITH? Lilith in Hebrew . didn’t take a lot of thought to accept, you and say, ‘‘What do we do?’’. You . mythology was Adam’s first wife . because I knew he was the one. I just had to organise things . and before Eve. She refused to lay . felt it was right. get on to the flying doctor. Back then . beneath him so she was cast out and . The farming life – going off with it took a while for the flying doctor to . vilified because she wanted to be . Sandy rounding up cattle – took a lot get here (from Charleville), too. Lilith in Hebrew . treated equally. And I thought she . of getting used to, because I had no It wasn’t easy getting used to was the perfect mascot for the tour. experience of the land. I was dead people expecting me to take charge. mythology was . scared of horses and no better with But I just had to make a decision to WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES . sheep or cattle. I was completely tell them what to do. Adam’s first . useless until I got used to it. OF BRINGING UP DAUGHTERS? . I was just talking to a friend whose . We had five children in six years. wife before Eve . I was dead scared daughter is 12 and one of the girls in . There was no time to think about her class is pregnant at 12. I thought, . anything, really. You just did . of horses and no Jesus Christ, that is four years off – . everything. We had to go into my daughter (India) is 8. I would quite often it’s when the girls aren’t had really strict parents, so if I talked . Longreach (320km northeast of . move to the woods! There’s so many home. Or early mornings. back or anything I’d be grounded for . Windorah) four weeks beforehand better with sheep . scary things out there. The kids are a week. Pretty saucy. and wait for the baby to be born. You . or cattle maturing so quickly. My daughters TELL US ABOUT A . still have to do that now, out in these (India and Taja, 3) are great. They’re SIGNIFICANT DREAM? They’re YOUR PERFECT SUNDAY? I . places. I’ve only had to deliver a . dynamic and smart and funny and all pretty disgusting. I have really, would get up late and have double . couple of babies myself out here Finally in 1992 I started to get saucy as all get-out. The trick for me really violent dreams. It’s usually espresso and head out to the beach . because of that. facilities and equipment. Oh, it was . is to try and instil compassion and either like a female Rambo, the last and surf for two or three hours with . When I did my nursing training in absolutely unreal. We got a clinic and . kindness and empathy. It’s a person on Earth with a big machine friends, then have a nap in the sun. Brisbane, we had to go through pharmacy items and I was employed . challenge. gun, in buildings of rubble and trying Then I would eat a really amazing . different sections. At the children’s for four hours a week officially to survive. I watch too many action meal. hospital we did nursery, medical, (though Anne continued to be on- . WHAT DISHES DO YOU ENJOY movies. surgical and outpatients, then we did call 24/7 as she always had been). COOKING? I make good home- WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE . the adult’s – surgical, psych, Over the years, I’ve updated my . made macaroni and cheese and good Probably . women’s, orthopedic – everything. It skills regularly at Longreach WHAT DO YOU SING AROUND ABOUT YOURSELF? . chicken fingers. The (girls) love raw THE HOUSE? A lot of nonsense. more than one thing. My lack of . was four years – nearly all hands on. Hospital, where I’d go for a couple of . vegetables so I put a plate of those Sometimes I’ll have one of my songs willpower would be the first choice. A lot of the time here I was weeks’ training. Every year we do out an hour before dinner. They just stuck in my head. I sing a lot of kids . advising people, especially mothers refreshers like advance cardiac life . munch on those. songs. DO YOU HAVE PARTY TRICKS? . with kids. I’d worked in gastro wards support, pediatric life support . I can stand on one hand. And I can . with kids and I knew how to treat I’ve done suturing on my kitchen . WHERE DO YOU WRITE YOUR NAME A STORY YOU ENJOYED tell really, really dirty jokes. them – back in those days, it wasn’t table. This was before I had Watership . SONGS? I have a piano in my living FROM YOUR YOUTH? . so much medication as getting the equipment or drugs. Nursing friends room and I have one down in the Down. The bunnies . I read it as a Sally Browne . fluids into them, so I was able to would send me the gear and . studio. I don’t make it down to the child. My mum was an avid reader Sarah McLachlan plays A Taste of . reassure the mothers. A lot of those anaesthetic. I’d boil the gear on the Lilith with Court Yard Hounds (Dixie . studio that often because it’s not in and had me reading when I was four. women had no idea and no one to stove for 10 minutes to sterilise it. the house – it’s another building – I was grounded a lot, so I read a lot. Chicks), Kate Miller-Heidke and The . help them. (Anne offered nursing I’ve even sutured my own kids. Verses, Brisbane Convention . and I don’t want to leave the girls. So . care to mothers and other medical Centre, October 16, ticketek.com.au . Outback Spirit (Penguin, $32.95) is (I write) mostly on the Steinway, but WHY WERE YOU GROUNDED? I or 132 849. emergencies voluntarily for 29 years out on August 30. ITCH – WHAT’S HOT ON THE RADAR . FASHION FOR . LIKE A ROLLING . I LIKE THE WAY . KING OF JAZZ . SEE SOME REEL . THE RUSSIANS . MARCIA WEAVES . MEDICAL AID . STONE . YOU MOVE . HITS NOOSA . ANIME . ARE COMING . A TAPESTRY . Brisbane fashion, music . Artisan Gallery, also in the . Justice Crew, winners of . James Morrison, . Enjoy the thrills of anime . The Imperial Russian . Marcia Hines’s upcoming . and graphic designers . Valley, has quite a coup . reality TV show . Australia’s King of Jazz, . on the big screen with a . Ballet returns to perform . album includes a tribute to showcase their wares at a . with its Rolling Stone . Australia’s Got Talent, are . will be in Noosa during . selection of feature films . the ageless tale of . ’60s legend Carole King, . charity show on . Australia best covers . attracting quite a fan . the Sunshine Coast’s . from Japan, at Dendy . bravery and dreams that . specifically King’s famed Wednesday at The Zoo, . show, from September 2 . base on YouTube, where . upcoming jazz festival, . Portside, Brisbane. is Tchaikovsky’s The . Tapestry recording. It’s . Fortitude Valley, from . for one month. You’ll see . their debut single And . performing at Berardo’s. Summer Wars (still, . Nutcracker, to be staged . out on October 1, we can’t . 7.30pm. Funds raised by . our own Kylie, who . Then We Dance landed as . Morrison (above) will be . above), Girl Who Leapt . at Gardens Theatre, . wait to hear Hines’s . student organisers TIME . graced the cover (above) . a teaser a few days ago. accompanied by Emma . Through Time, . Brisbane, September . interpretation of King’s will provide medical .