ALL walks of life are found on a cattle station, and not many know that better than Tom Curtain.
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“You’ve got the older people who’ve done the miles, the young ones full of cheek and bad manners – it’s a great concoction of personalities,” he said.
“It’s the songs, the stories after a hard day work that you listen to – whenever someone told a few yarns I’d try to capture them.”
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A horse and dog breaker by trade, Curtain went to Gatton College in Toowoomba before he moved to the Northern Territory.
Straight into the stock camps mustering cattle on horses, a door was left open to take a horse-breaking role.
It doesn’t get much more country than that.
He’s learned a lot about people through animals, body language is similar across the board Curtain said.
“It definitely describes personality and it’s the same with dogs, if you want the best out of animals you have to treat them right,” he said. “And it’s the same with my crew on tour, you have to really look after them to get the best results.”
The Katherine Outback Experience is his latest venture, combining dog training and music in a family-friendly show.
But it’s more than just dogs and horses – beneath his hard exterior Curtain has used his platform in country music to take a stand against one of the most pervasive problems in today’s youth.
Bullying.
Touched by the death of Amy Jayne “Dolly” Everett, Curtain has made it his mission to raise awareness about victims of cyberbulling.
“It was devastating to everyone, not only the close knit community in Katherine,” he said.
“I was inspired by her words, ‘speak even if your voice shakes’, so I wrote a song to help out.
Curtain wrote the song Speak Up with fellow artist Sara Storer and has been taking his message into schools Australia-wide.
The aim is to encourage kids that are being bullied to talk to a trusted parent, adult or friend Curtain said.
“These days with social media it’s behind closed doors, back in our day it was in the school yard and it would stop at 3pm,” he said.
“But now it travels home with them and it’s quite complicated.”
His show Tom Curtain and Katherine Outback Experience is on at Tamworth Paceway from Monday, January 21 to Friday, January 25.