River McCrossen
16 October 2024, 8:20 PM
Golden Guitar winner Tom Curtain will visit Warren's St Mary' Parish School to drive discussion around empathy in school children.
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The country singer will pass through on 18 October as part of a five-month tour across Australia including Melbourne and the Sydney suburb of Blacktown.
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One of the songs he is singing on the tour is Speak Up, inspired by 14-year-old Amy 'Dolly' Everett, who took her own life due to cyberbullying.
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"If we can instil a bit of hope and drive in a lot of these kids, I think it'd be pretty special," Tom said.
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"We've got a few funny songs about the characters we meet and a few animals that we've heard about on the way.
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"So, we'll do a couple of those songs as well, and just talk to the kids about how they should treat people."
Tom Curtain at Mirboo North Public School in southern Victoria. PHOTO: supplied
Tom will also take a question and answer session for the students.
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So far he says the questions tend to focus on his experience as a music performer, although he also fields "a few" on cyberbullying.
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"It's mainly parents emailing and messaging after we've been to the school and saying 'thanks so much for touching on that topic about bullying,'" Tom said.
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"When I first wrote the song, speak out, I didn't really think much of it. It was just our way of helping out, but I have seen and heard the feedback from a pretty phenomenal response."