Religious Sister helps others to find their voice.
By Anthony Barich
The term ‘Choir of Hard Knocks’ has been given a new meaning in the remote southern Geraldton town of Three Springs.
Good Samaritan Sr Anna Warlow, the older sister of Australian operatic sensation Anthony, arrived in Three Springs in 2005 in the midst of severe drought that has devastated the town for several years.
Along with the drought, which Three Springs was one of the hardest hit by, problems associated with rural life were occurring too often, like suicide and indigenous Australians living in difficult conditions.
As a teacher before she joined her Congregation at age 26, she had already become aware of the uplifting power of music and, noticing the success of the Choir of Hard Knocks in Melbourne, started one up in Three Springs.
Almost every Monday since, up to 25 people aged 10 to 84 have gathered for practice in the back of the church at St Paul’s Community House of Welcome.
As well as performing pastoral and liturgical duties in the surrounding townships of Morawa, Coorow, Perenjori and Carnamah, Sr Anna, 63, facilitates the choir and has seen people’s lives changed.
“There was a lot of struggle through the drought, and a real downturn in spirits. The Choir of Hard Knocks was on the go in the eastern states, so if they can do it to lift the spirits of the homeless and drug-addicted, we can do it here for those who struggle,” she said.
The choir was assisted by Jen Charadia, a composer and musician who works for Catholic Education in the Wollongong Diocese, NSW.
Jen and her husband became a much-loved part of the community and Jen later wrote two moving letters to the community once she left about the profound influence the experience had on her.
Everyone who participates has their spirits lifted. The children who come tend to stay in school, while one local girl is supported to attend the Broome campus of the University of Notre Dame studying nursing. She wants to return and work in her community.
In many rural communities, there are often few opportunities for higher education. The choir has also provided opportunities for socialisation, and now indigenous and non-indigenous women do activities together to support the community in the meeting house adjacent to the church.
They have become something of a local hit. They sang at the Carnamah Show in the Christian Outreach Pavilion, at Multicultural Harmony Day in Geraldton in March and at the 400th anniversary celebrations of the Loreto Sisters’ foundation.
Last year they released a CD, Crowing in the Midwest, as it was the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese calendar.
Geraldton Bishop Justin Bianchini launched the CD of six songs – I am Australian, Amazing Grace, Why we sing, Gabriella’s song and Hallelujah and two bush stories told by Bog Magor – Who’ll give the bride away and Blue and the sheep.
Sr Anna hopes to produce another CD by 2011, just in time for World Youth Day in Madrid.
Though they sold 500 copies, she said it has nothing to do with raising money and everything to do with giving the choristers a sense of achievement.
Sr Anna belongs to the oldest Australian-made Religious order, the Sisters of Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict, founded by Archbishop John Bead Polding, the first bishop of Australia, in 1857 – a decade before Blessed Mary MacKillop founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1866 in Penola, South Australia.
Archbishop Polding was a Benedictine monk from Downside Abbey, England and originally founded the Order to educate convict women and other marginalised people.
The Order is now present in Japan, the Philippines, East Timor and Kiribati, continuing the work of its founding charism.