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Geoffrey Tozer: a youthful master of the keyboard -
Geoffrey Tozer Help
Geoffrey Tozer
pARTS of the Geoff
rey Tozer story
could have been lifted
straight from one of
those old British mov
ies about great talent
in genteel poverty.
Consider the day 10
years ago when Geoffrey,
then eight, auditioned for
the first time at the ABC
in Melbourne. His mother,
convinced, rightly, as it
turned out, that her son
was something very special
indeed as a pianist, took
him' along to an ABC
building in St Kilda Road.
They sat for an hour,
before somebody realised
that they were in the
wrong place; the piano au
dition was to be in Lon
sdale Street, some consid
erable distance away. And
they were an hour late.
Mrs Tozer had enough
mtmcy for tram fares to
Lonsdale Street. They got
there and the audition
went well. Afterwards,
hard reality intruded. The
Tozers' immediate re
sources had shrunk to
about sixpence.
"I told Geoffrey that
From MAX BEATTIE, in Melbourne
Victorian pianist Geoffrey Tozcr received a
Churchill Scholarship to study music when he
was 13. Now, 5 years later, he has received
another. One of his'final appearances in Australia
before going overseas will be at the Canberra
Theatre, this Friday. In this article his back•
ground and rise to the public eye arc described.
cither he could get the
tram home (to Windsor,
an inner suburb some
miles away) or wc could
walk and have an orange".
Mrs Tozer rccalls.
"He chose the orange
... he was always a great
walker".
Geoffrey remembers too:
"I had the orange and she
had the peel . . .".
Five years later, Geoff
rey Tozer was to startle
the local musical estab
lishment by winning a
Churchill Fellowship at
the age of 13, five years
younger than the normal
minimum age.
The Tozers went to
London and stayed three
years. Geoffrey studied
and performed and ma
tured; there was acclaim.
He was introduced to the
Queen after one triumph.
a win in an important
competition for young
musicians.
Last year and this year.
Australia has, after some
brief indifference, granted
him adult recognition.
Last Tuesday night's Mel
bourne Town Hall recital
was a big success.
"Brilliant", said The Age,
Melbourne, critic, Felix
Wcrder.
This Friday night
Geoffrey Tozer will give
the same recital in the
Canberra Theatre. It will
be his last really important
engagement in Australia
before he leaves for the
US and what he hopes will
be bigger things.
One of the things
Geoffrey learnt in London
(and earlier, perhaps, in
Melbourne) is the impor
tance of money. He sees it
as unreasonably hard to
earn for a classical musi
cian, even the best, in
London and the rest of
Europe.
"In Europe, they're still
clinging to the idea that
everybody has got to
starve and live in a garret
before they can claim to
be an artist", says Geoff
rey Tozer, at IS.
"This certainly isn't true
In fact, he sees London,
particularly, as largely my
thical as a musical centre,
a place where a highly
talented young pianist
could expect to go and
stay and thrive.
"It's America now", he
said in Melbourne a few
days ago. "They're very
good . •. . they appreciate
anything that they think is
really good", and they
were, he went on, willing
to pay for it.
But he sees more in the
US than the hope of a pot
of gold. He believes that
American standards in
classical music are
generally higher than
those of Europe. His
English-born mother Vcro
nica, who taught him until
he was 12, agrees.
She will not be going on
this trip, Geoffrey being a
young man now, but she is
convinced that he has to
try himself in the US. He
will compete in the Van
C 1 i b u r n International
Piano Competition. If he
does well, he expects the
"door to the musical world
of America — Geoffrey's
phrase — to come open. It
would be a supremely im
portant breakthrough.
But it would be unfair
to depict Tozer as am
bitious in the ordinary
sense. He desires success,
certainly — but he plays
the piano because he has
to play.
"It's not so much some
thing you arc dedicated to
as something you can't
control", he says. "Some
thing so much inside of
you . . . you simply do
what you know is in you".
The knowledge came
early. Geoffrey Tozer was
banging away at a key
board before he was a
year old. The backdrop
was the Himalayas. The
Tozcrs came to Australia
when Geoffrey was thre£
as part of the general
exodus of the British from
India after independence.
Soon after, his parents
separated. Veronica Tozer,
who had shown promise
as a concert pianist in the
late 1930s, began to earn
her living as a music
teacher. Melbourne was an
unfamiliar, almost alien,
place and things were by
no means easy.
Now, with the help of
another $2,000 Churchill
grant, comes the chance at
America. Apart from the
Van Clibtirn, in Te.xas, he
will play in New York,
Washington and other
cities.
Back home, the Ade
laide and Perth festivals
will feature him early next
year.
The ball is at his feet, a
metaphor which would
hardly recommend itself to
Geoffrey or his mother.
He is tall, slim but not
fragile, and he never had
any taste for sports — an
attitude in which Veronica
Tozer supported him to
the hilt.
Culture and tourism in PNG
By BILL NICOL, who recently visited Papua New Guinea.
"WE saw it in a film",
said one of the
American tourists.
"Yeah", another one
said. "It was in a film.
It was all about these
untouched Stone Age
type people".
Wc were in the Eastern
Highlands of New Guinea
at the time, about 15 miles
west of Gorofca. The group
of Americans were telling
me why they had come to
the country; it was to get
a first hand look at a "last
frontier".
They said they had de
cided to see for themselves
if the natives were as wild
and primitive as they had
been made out to be.
Even though this is a
typical reason for tourists
wanting to visit the coun
try, the Government is
against promoting this sort
of tourism.
In the words of the
Chief Minister. Mr Mich
ael Somare, his country
does not want a tourist in
dustry which "ogles prim
itive savages".
According to Mr Som
are, overseas promolion of
the country is unbalanced.
It should be moved away
from the idea of "savage
New Guinea" and more
emphasis be placed:on the
natural geographic attrac
tions.
"Our natural and very
beautiful beaches, coral
reefs, rugged geography
and so on are hardly
noticed", he says.
Native dancers at the Mount Hagen Show. Help
Native dancers at the Mount Hagen Show.
Nevertheless, while Mr
Somare may not want a
tourist industry which
"ogles primitive savages",
the Government's promo
tion of the country is
based mainly on advertis
ing the primitive native
culture.
This promotional work
is carried out by the Gov
ernment's Papua and New
Guinea Tourist Board,
which says that more tour
ists will visit the country
if its primitiveness is ad
vertised.
Since the tourist board
.,us established, about the
middle of- last decade, the
number of "short-term
visitors" to the country
has risen from about
17,000 to almost 45,000 a
year.
It is estimated that, in
cluding air fares, the av
erage tourist spends S55 a
day in the country, and
stavs for eight days.
These statistics are,
however,- misleading. The
45,000 short-term visitors
include about 15,000 busi
nessmen, an unknown
number of missionaries
and public servants, mem
bers of the armed forces
and passengers in transit.
But there arc also an
additional 30,000 _ people,
not included in the
statistics, who visit the
country each year in
cruise ships. The average
stay of these tourists is
two days.
At present, tourism is
ranked as about the fourth
major industry in the
country. And, according
to the tourist board, "It is
estimated that by 1975 the
short-term visitors will be
in excess of 80,000".
Such numbers o£ visi
tors, it is estimated, will
contribute $33 million to
the economy in that year,
and it is predicted that
tourism will then rank as
the second largest earner
o£ foreign exchange.
The tourist board is
basically a part-time body
whose members include
representatives of the air
lines, shipping, hotels, the
Government, and some
people not directly in
volved in the tourist in
dustry.
Some members of the
board say that its work is
frustrated by a lack of
Government policy or dir
ection. They say also that
recommendations which
the board has made to the
Government have been
"placed on the shelf* in
f'"d, of c'ther being re
jected or accepted.
According to the chair
man and head of the
board, Mr Donald Harvey
wh° is the manacer
°f Steamsnips
fading Co, which repre
sents the hotel interests^
the board, "The tourist
fSSt ,as ncvcr had the
" backing of the Gov
crnram, despite
body". ^ government
th^,r, So"larc a<Jm'ts that
he ounst board '"has
mem di1Uny firnl S°vem
Bu h- h'"°n -m thc PasL".
he has said also that
■now >s the lime-for
51?— Pa",
had1Lthh Govcrnment has
'•n"rtJ chanrei0f increased
participation 5jnCe
November 20 last yCar
£hen the Tourist Industry
Ordnance was passed byf
the House of Assembly. 1
forTihS or<Ji".ancc allows
f"e establishment of a
'ounst authority whose
members will be a full!
t'mc chairman, two public
vehroanisreand.r peom
servant/ nc','-her Public
^™ts nor dirccllv con
nected with the industry?
ordinance allows
fejv0^1'"66' niad" Si
»atS' to"1!6
'feort.naiice lo adopToS
s^sarr **
Mr b ii c Association,
w- Bill Schutt, said "r
«hA?'s *vas deferred to
tne first of July ancj t
knowledge no new d™e
nas been set bv thr- r*m
crnment for its forma(S"j
One reason why the
tourist authority has not
?heeeV„CStab,ished *
L v.F°:,er™t has not
iet selected a chairman.
The full-time executive
teorMofB,hc tou^
ooard, Mr Bryan Hill
who retired recently from'i
his position, declined to
apply for the position
when his contract expired
in March, because he was
opposed to the way the
new authority would be
structured.
"It is niv belief that no
national office of tourism
anywhere in the world can
be a success if it is oper
ated in a totally bureau
cratic environment", Mr
Hill said.
Although his contract
has officially expired, Mr
Hill's retirement from the
board was delayed be
cause he agreed to re
main in his position for a
"few extra weeks".
Mr Hill said he did not
think tourism in Papua
New Guinea had ruined
«..• would ruin the coun
try's native cultures.
"In every country with
a planned tourist develop
ment program cultures
have no: only been protec
ted but have been clc
valcd", he said.
"Preservation of culture
i.s expensive. Civilisation
destroys basic cultures.
"But tourists go to view
unique cultures and this
crea'e* an incentive to re
tain them".
He said the tourist
board had not encouraged
tourists to visit certain
areas just because they
were unique.
"We never force any
village to have tourism",
he said.
"As a matter of fact it
is the other way around.
We have villages asking
us to bring them tourists".
Mr Somare said he
would like to see the de
velopment of low-cost on
location guesthouses so
that tourists could "move
from multi-million uollar
hotels in the main centres
to these sort of facilities
in the outlying centres"
He said tourism
had brought with it a
clash of cultures. There
fore it had to be "more
thoughtful" about the
feelings of the people in
the villages.
"Thus, within the dis
trict planning process,
direction must come from
the local communities",
he said.
And while Mr Somare
said he thought tourism
and the preservation of
culture could work side
by side, he was explicit
that where they were in
conflict "culture will be
protected".
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