Ellis retraces music history

By Luke Voogt

Ron Ellis wanted his new book to remember the live music scene of Geelong in years past rather than a be “boring autobiography”.
“I’ve retraced a few places in the book that are no longer part of the Geelong landscape,” the 70-year-old told the Indy.
Ron strolls through the city’s music history in My Story, My Song, and My City, through his eyes and wife Hazel’s.
“It’s a very local Geelong-interest book,” he said, “so it’s never going to sell by the truckload.”
The couple performed together across the country from the ’70s until doctors diagnosed Hazel with multiple sclerosis in 1993.
“Writing the book was therapeutic for both of us because we were able to get through some of the sadness and look back at the happy times,” Ron said.
Ron met Hazel when he was a youth worker, and together they began to experiment with music during presentations to schools.
“I found out she had a natural gift for harmony and a pretty voice, and music is a great communicator.”
Soon the couple was playing folk gigs across Geelong at now-demolished venues like the Aberdeen Chateau and the old Geelong Hotel.
He and Hazel played when “the disco craze“ came in and DJs slowly replaced live acts “with crates full of records and flashing lights”.
They toured shopping centres on Australia’s the east coast five years after Hazel’s diagnosis before giving up music in 1998.
“She was extremely sad because it had been such an important part of our lives for so many years,” Ron said.
“I didn’t want her to feel bad that she couldn’t do it. I just felt it left a big hole in my life.”
But Ron returned to playing in 2010, and has since played at retirement homes around Geelong, while caring for his wife.
“Because I was advancing on years myself, I sort of decided I’d focus on the senior market,” he said.
He recently released a CD of his and Hazel’s best work to coincide with the launch of the book.
“When I was playing them, my wife got a bit teary,” he said.
“She remembered what she used to be able to do and how much she has actually lost through the inroads of MS in her life.”
Ron, who grew up in Melbourne, remembered making Geelong his home as a young adult.
“People said, ‘you’re going to sleepy hollow are you?’ You wouldn’t call it that now.”
My Story, My Song, and My City is available at Books Around in central Geelong.