AUSTRALIAN country music legend John Williamson stopped by Collie last week for a one-off free performance to show his support to the Collie mining community.
Williamson played two songs, including True Blue, and Sail the Nullarbor, in Central Park before signing autographs and posing for photos with fans.
The singer was contacted by the Collie mining community and invited to perform the impromptu gig on Thursday, October 13, as he was scheduled to perform in Bunbury that same night.
Williamson said he could relate to the struggles that small towns can sometimes face.
“I’m here to support you. I’m from a little country town myself in country Victoria,” he said. “I think the main thing is to encourage them to stick together, that’s the only way you can win really.”
Williamson said he didn’t agree with the wage cuts that the Collie mining community was currently enduring.
“They’re cutting back their wages for no good reason, I don’t think that’s good,” he said. “Australia doesn’t want to follow America and all the other countries where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.”
Williamson also expressed his concerns for the widening wealth gap in Australia.
“I can see what’s happening here and we’ve got to be careful in this country that the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer and that gap is getting wider and I think that’s a very dangerous situation,” he said.
“I don’t want to get political, I just want to be supportive of your campaign to get better from this multi-national company.” “Keep strong and stick together, it’s the only way you are gonna do it.”
Williamson’s management had said the special performance was not advertised due to it possibly compromising his ticketed show in Bunbury. The multi-award winning music legend has released over forty albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books, and is currently on an Australia-wide tour where he performed four shows in Western Australia including; Albany, Perth, Bunbury and Mandurah.
