Category Archive: News

Saturday 18th April saw Illawarra Union Singers travelling to Lane Cove to combine with the La Voce Choir for the first Coaltown performance.

Songs from the Coal
Lane Cove
Coaltown was an outdoor theatre production created and performed by Sydney-based professional street theatre company, Death Defying Theatre (DDT) in 1985. Funded through the Australia Council and the ACTU’s “Art in Working Life” program, the show told a story of coal mining, unionism and the lives of mining people in Australia.
The ninety minute show featured 6 performers, 6 original songs and a 3 metre high miner.
Devised and rehearsed in Collinsville, a pit-mining town in far Nth Queensland, Coaltown was presented on football fields and public reserves in 10 coal mining communities throughout eastern Australia….and then put to bed.
In 2014 IUS, Sarah de Jong (Coaltown composer 1985) and “La Voce” choir from Lane Cove Sydney commenced a project to revive the Coaltown songs.
On 18 April 2015 at the Lane Cove Living and Learning Centre, meeting for just the second time, both choirs presented a number of their own songs, and joined to perform a set of Coaltown songs. The good crowd of over 30 enjoyed a great night of songs and a strong partnership between two choirs was established.
It was a great night.
Contributed by Michael Andrews.

Opening speech given by Kim Spinks who was a founding member of Death Defying Theatre, Sarah De Jong on left also founding member and composer.

La Voce Choir doing their songs

Sarah De Jong and Sarah Lambert (Blue Tie)

On 19 July this year, some of the Illawarra Union Singers singers traveled to Newcastle to be part of a wonderful day of combined Union choir workshops and individual and combined performances. After intense but very satisfying workshops run by The Newcastle People’s Chorus and the Sydney Trade Union Choir, the intrepid singers repaired to the Lass O’Gowrie Hotel, where they performed to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience. They learnt new songs, revisited neglected ones and realised what a great repertoire there is of union songs.
Thanks Dianne for article and photos

Stephen Taberner’s Workshop was fantastic, and later when we got to sing the Tool song with his group the Spooky Men’s Chorale, live on stage, woo hoo! Their performance was spectacular musically, and made me laugh til the tears were running down my face.

We were this Friday’s “mystery performers”. I think our Choir T-shirts kinda gave the game away a bit early in the evening. But that’s Ok…

We sang “One World, One Chance”, “In My Shoes” (about refugees, featuring Zlatko on guitar), “Let’s Pretend” (environmental parody, featuring us all on kazoos) and “Holi Shla Shla” (classic apartheid-era freedom song from South Africa.) We had them clapping out the rhythms at the end…

The choir before our performance