TIM Sheed was elected the new Chair of the Friends of the Library Alexandra (FOLA) in September, but he has also been a farmer, a former councillor in Jerilderie, a radio broadcast engineer, a bush poet and more throughout his interesting life. Tim was born in Barham, New South Wales, on the banks of the Murray River. Him and his four brothers and one sister were raised on a rice growing property between Echuca and Swan Hill with no electricity or television, giving him a deep appreciation for the country lifestyle. He became a storyteller after hearing his uncle one day describing an old farm worker lyrically as “looking like he had shaved with a Stump Jump Razor… He had hairs hanging off him like a Bengal Tiger”. He collected sayings and built his storytelling and poetry reciting skills, which would come into play later in his life when he performed as a bush poet. Before that, Tim went to work on Wonga Merino Stud between Jerilderie and Hay as a newly married man, to gain skills before returning to his family farm. “It was sort of an apprenticeship at Wonga Merino Stud and then I came back on my family place and with tough times it really wasn't big enough to support two families,” Tim said. “I did an employment aptitude test and that put me into radio broadcasting engineering.” He went to Sydney and studied radio broadcast engineering for two years before landing a job straightaway in Brisbane after his daughter Natasha was born, where he worked for around 14 years. “I worked on everything from the microphone to the mixer,” Tim said. “We went to CDs, which were the coming technology in that time, and a lot of digital stuff. “After I left they got out of digital stuff and went back to where the operator can operate their own desk because they felt more comfortable with it, which is what you want when putting on a show.” His late 30s rolled around and Tim changed careers, returning to farming by completing an agricultural degree through Melbourne University and returning to run ‘Pittfour’, the family property. In 2000, ‘Pittfour’ won the Best Irrigated Wheat Crop in the Riverina. While living in Jerilderie, Tim was elected as a local councillor with the Jerilderie Shire and continued in this role for 16 years. “We worked on getting the electricity poles out of the street, putting them underground, which I thought was a great idea,” Tim said. “We built a new library, but the main thing was that we planted these trees, and to go back after years and there were all these tree lines over the street in the middle of summer. “Now it’s just a real boulevard, really beautiful. “I’d only seen them when they were half grown, now they’re full grown, and all the footpaths are shaded.” He was also Chairman of the Murray Regional Development Board and Chairman of the Murray Catchment Management Committee. When ‘Pittfour’ was eventually sold, Tim turned to being a professional bush poet and storyteller. He performed at festivals, on cruise ships, and was even an onboard performer on the Ghan. Tim and wife Christine had a couple of friends that travelled the Ghan as guest performers, sparking the inspiration for him to travel it as a bush poet performer. “My wife’s a professional harpist, and she rang up and said, ‘do you need a harpist?’,” Tim explained. “They said they couldn’t handle it because the corridors were too narrow to shift the harp around. “She turned around and said, ‘what about a bush poet?’, and they were all for that. “I had 24 days to brush up on what I used to do around the campfire at home, then we went up and back on the Ghan.” Tim was President of the Australian Bush Poets Association for several years, and he’s still on the committee. “We've travelled around the country doing schools with music and poetry and so on,” Tim said. “If you'd asked me 20 years ago, or said you'd be doing this, I would have just laughed. “It’s just how it’s turned out, but I think if you keep thinking about what you’re doing, something’s going to come out of it.” On top of all his other adventures, Tim makes harps. “Because my wife’s a harpist I got interested in them, you know, because there’s a lot of engineering,” Tim said. “The string comes off the soundboard, and so there’s about a thousand pounds of tension on the soundboard. “So how do you engineer it so it still sounds good but it doesn’t get shattered? “And I’ve probably made 40 or 50 by now.” Tim and wife Christine bought a house in Alexandra two years ago but moved here in February this year. “My wife was born here and raised here, so we’ve been coming here for ages,” Tim said. “We moved from the country up at Jerilderie down to Portarlington for a long time and that was good, but we got itchy feet and we travelled a lot. “We thought we needed a base, so we bought a place here and it’s coming together pretty well.” Tim was invited to take on the position of Chairman for the Friends of the Library Alexandra (FOLA) and embraced the task. A potential upcoming goal for the Alexandra Library is movable shelves on wheels in the main room, to allow for a bigger performance space when necessary. “That is fairly substantial and a lot of money,” Tim said. “The other thing that a lot of people are interested in is bringing more authors and artists and funding them to come. “We’re going to run a steady ship but hopefully get some improvements in place sooner rather than later.” On the Alexandra Library itself, Tim added, “I don’t know that I’ve lived anywhere where there is a more active library than here. “There’s a strong sentiment in the community that the library is one of the real hubs that holds it together.”
