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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-07-06 Daily Xml
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Light Electorate

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (15:35): Today, I would like to talk about some things that obviously are important to my electorate. At the outset, I would like to say that one of the most rewarding parts of being the local MP is the various people you meet in your work. You often meet people in a whole range of different areas, from people involved in sports to people involved in arts, business, community activities, etc. While you meet a lot of people from time to time, sometimes you do not get to know the full person until, sadly, you are invited to their funeral and you hear their life story, and their life story is much bigger than the story you know about them.

Recently, I was invited to go to a memorial service for Alfred Keith Skuse, or Alf Skuse, as he is better known. Alf was born in 1941 and passed away this year, just last month. He has left behind a wife, Kay, and children, Debra and Anthony. I met Alf through his involvement with the Gawler Bowling Club. Not only was he a bowler but he also served on the committee and helped out the Gawler Bowling Club in its day-to-day activities. That is, essentially, what I really knew of Alf until I attended his funeral service.

What I did not know was that Alf had an extensive sporting and athletics history and was quite sporting and athletic from a young age. He came from a family of modest means, so he worked very hard for what he achieved. He went to work literally as a young boy. He was 14 when he became an apprentice jockey. That was not to happen, though, because unfortunately he grew too big and was not able to become a jockey, but he did play football. He went to play football for the South Adelaide Football Club, where he played in a number of premierships and also won a number of awards.

He also played football in the local competition. He played football and had an association with all the clubs in Gawler, namely the Willaston Football Club, the Gawler Centrals and also South Gawler Football Club. Not only did he have an association with those clubs but he spent a lot of his time actually coaching young players. It was interesting that there were a number of young people—not so young today, but people he coached who were young once—who came to his service and acknowledged the contribution he made not only to their sporting ability but to their younger lives.

Often, we have people in our community who make a huge contribution to our communities we are not aware of. Alf was not one to seek the attention of media or publicity, so I think it is only fitting that I get this opportunity to pay tribute to Alf Skuse and pass on my condolences to his family for a life well lived.

The other thing I would like to bring to the house's attention today is an event that will be launched this week on Sunday: Arts on the Plains. The event is part of the SALA Festival in the Gawler and surrounding districts and designed to bring together a whole range of different artists and art groups and also local schools, where they can promote the event and also cross-promote their activities, with the aim of bringing visitors to the town and surrounding districts.

There are a whole range of different activities, about 20 in total, and I will mention some of those in passing: the Joe Dennis solo art exhibition; The Art of the Moving Image, a retrospective of the work of Terry Flaxton; the Gawler Community Gallery members' art exhibition at the civic centre; the Gawler Art Society art exhibition; Pushing up Daisies exhibition by the Eco Coffin Project, which I am officially launching; there is a mural; Worlds Apart by Gawler in Photographs; Intersections 2023, Trinity College SALA exhibition; the Arts on the Plains official launch; and the Women's Studio exhibition.

Also, It Starts with a Stitch; the Gawler Arts Society Exhibition; Gawler yarn bombing; a mural painting by Trinity College; An Arts Journey by Xavier College; a live mural painting by Xavier College; Gawler Makers Market; Imagine Art Group; Lovebirds' Print and Sip with Adele at the Hewett Centre; Australian Rodeo, a photographic exhibition; the Home exhibition at Playford College; and For Arts Sake by Compass Catholic Community. As you can see, there is a whole range of diverse groups contributing to our art world.

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