I've seen The Vision Splendid: Ted Egan
By ERWIN CHLANDA
Ted Egan's stories and songs ranged from the poignant, such as The Drover’s Boy, to the larrikan: There are some bloody good drinkers, in the Northern Territory.
In Ted's drama the drover's boy – who is a girl, for those who don't know – is a touching love story. But it also deals with the era's brutality: "Shoot the bucks, grab a gin, cut her hair. Break her in."
Greg Egan was speaking this morning at the state memorial celebrating the life of his father Ted Egan who, apart from being a nationally celebrated singer, was an author, academic and athlete.
This is how former Alice Mayor and currently the Deputy Administrator, Fran Kilgariff, (pictured) described him to a crowd of 400.
As it is proper for a state funeral, the first rows rows of seats were occupied by much of the NT Government and senior bureaucracy, in suits, from the Chief Minister down.
The rest were casually dressed locals, most of us not going to see 50 again.
Surprisingly, there were not many Aboriginal people, given Ted's long-standing respect and support for them.
An exception were a group of senior Tiwi Islands folk who danced and recalled Ted's devotion to football.
Ted died on December 4, 2025 aged 93.
Ms Kilgariff said his life spanned a period of history in the NT when many of our political and social institutions were formed.
"He knew most of the players but I don’t think he ever wrote songs about them, preferring to tell stories about the unacknowledged, quiet contributors to our Territory history … from the most disreputable people to the upper echelons of our society."
He was writing stories “specially about those who are unlikely to capture the attention of the academic historian.
"Along the way he turned into a social commentator as he recorded Territory history in his inimitable style."
Ms Kilgariff said "Poor bugger me, Gurindgi" is one of his best lines.
Travelling the length and breadth of the Territory, Ted wrote “songs about eccentrics he met, and the things he experienced, and the stories he heard, and we are the beneficiaries of those snapshots of Territory life."
Several speakers mentioned that Ted was a great listener.
"He wrote in 1981 about a then taboo subject, Aboriginal women drovers, after meeting those then elderly ladies."
Edna Ziegenbein was one of them.
How people, including these women, fitted into the tough cattle industry was part of Ted's fascination with the Outback.
He teamed up with local film maker Chris Tangey to track down an old drover in western Queensland.
The role of alcohol in the Ted's life was treated with appropriate respect.
He was doubtlessly the first to turn an empty beer carton into a musical instrument.
The house he shared for 44 years with spouse Nerys Evans, also an outstanding singer, is called Sinkatinny Downs. Ms Evans opened today's memorial.
Local identity Wayne Craft confessed Ted taught him to drink.
Beer and red wine got several mentions.
Also fittingly, the memorial featured local musicians. Bloodwood was dusted off, the Shavings and the Splinter Sisters performed alongside Gleny Rae.
But Ted's readiness to call a spade a spade, deriving authority from his academic study and work, allowed him to engage early in what these days is called truth telling.
At the end of the memorial Greg played the Drover's Boy film clip, intended to promote a feature film that, regrettably, was never made. The memorial ended movingly with the Ted's great voice and frank, poignant lyrics:
In the Camoweel pub they talked about
The death of the drover's boy
They drank their rum with the stranger
Who'd come from the Kimberley Run Fitzroy
And he told of the massacre in the west
Barest details, guess the rest
Shoot the bucks, grab a gin, cut her hair
Break her in, call her a boy, the drover's boy
Call her a boy, the drover's boy
So when they build that stockman's hall of fame
And they talk about the droving game
Remember the girl who was bed mate and died
Rode with the drover, side by side
Watched the bullocks, flayed the hide
Faithful wife but never a bride
Bred his sons for the cattle run
Don't weep for the drover's boy
Don't mourn for the drover's boy –
But don't forget the drover's boy
Ted is survived by children Greg, Margaret, Mark and Jacki, seven grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.