Man with a Mission

With the Heart of St Kilda charity concert on 6^th September, 2016, Coral Drouyn talks to the amazing Brian Nankervis.

Brian Nankervis is better known to some of us as the marvellous comic beat poet Raymond J Bartholomeuz, or (if you’re a little young to remember the eighties) as the co-creator  and adjudicator of the fabulous Rockwiz, SBS’ great contribution to entertainment and nostalgia. But to the people of  St Kilda, Brian is a local, and a bloody good bloke and they owe him a lot, especially those in need.

“It was about ten years ago and I was doing a gig,” he tells me “and I met up with an old mate. I suggested we meet the following morning for coffee and he said ‘I can’t, I’m doing breakfast at Sacred Heart …why don’t you come. And that was a big moment, a turning point, for me.”

It turned out Brian’s friend was a volunteer at the Sacred Heart Mission, a charitable organisation helping the homeless, the disenfranchised, all those in crisis and need.

“I live in St Kilda, and I drive past their headquarters in Grey Street practically every day, but I had absolutely no idea until I rocked up at their dining room that day what goes on inside. I like to think I was socially aware, but sometimes we live too safe, too comfortable, we don’t want to see what’s really going on,” Brian explains.

What’s going on is that Sacred Heart mission serves over 400 free meals a day, breakfast and lunch, to anyone who needs a feed, and has a full support system for women in crisis, and the elderly who are all but forgotten, as well as those living on the street. There is always someone to talk to, always someone who will listen, always help available….even finding a home for the homeless.

But surely St Kilda is now an affluent suburb with very expensive real estate, and a café society and strong artistic environment?

“Yes it is,” Brian admits, “but in some ways it’s easier to fall through the cracks with affluence around you. It doesn’t occur to your middle class neighbour that behind closed doors you don’t have enough money for food, or that the old mansion sitting on a prime block is actually a refuge for women in crisis, or that people who sleep in doorways – which no-one should ever have to do – are now pushed further aside because we enjoy a night-time social society and venues are open most of the night. It certainly never occurred to me.”

Brian started volunteering at the shelter, but quickly saw that an organisation relying solely on donations to survive needed a major fund-raising event to help out.

“People always want to be entertained,” he says, “if they didn’t I’d be out of a job. So I talked to some mates in the business; mates used to organising tours, putting bums on seats, using entrepreneurial skills. Larry Ponting and Wal Bishop (OAM) figured the one thing we could do well was a concert, and the blokes got Neil Croker, CEO of the Palais Theatre, on board. I’m not sure if we were the Four Musketeers or The Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse, but we co-erced a lot of our friends into appearing and the first concert was a great success. That was nine years ago now.”

It wasn’t until the first concert was behind them, that the quartet started thinking of the charity concert as an annual event, and somehow it just got bigger every year.

“Well, The Palais is a wonderful old venue and it’s so much a part of the landscape and culture of St Kilda – everyone wants to play there,” Brian says.

“Everyone” this year includes, in an incredible line-up, The Ultra Cool Daddy Ross Wilson, the adorably kitsch Bob Downe, Ella Hooper, Judith Lucy, Jimeoin, Deborah Conway, Red Symons, and a host of other stars.

“It’s entertainment for the whole family, a great celebration of all the things we have, and it helps those who don’t have much at the same time,” Brian explains.

Brian will be the compere, as he has for the last eight years. “And it’s just possible that Raymond J might appear with a special poem about St Kilda,” he adds.

Like I said, Brian Nankervis is a bloody good bloke. We need more like him.

The Heart of St Kilda Concert is on Tuesday 6^th September 2016, at The Palais Theatre St Kilda

Tickets from www.ticketmaster.com.au