After years in the city, a country boy returns to enjoy a new creative life in Scone.
The baby sits in a highchair in a grainy home video that flickers across the screen. Off camera, a woman can be heard saying “he’s been such a good boy. He’s the best little bloke, such a good little person.”
The loving mother is a well-respected rural GP called Bronwyn Stokes. Her young family are gathered around a table and it’s a scene typically seen in many households throughout Australia. Nothing unusual here you might say. Except that the clip is part of the opening sequence for the music video released earlier this year by Dr Stokes’s youngest son Jimbo, in memory of his mother who died of ovarian cancer in November, 2016.
Awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her services to regional medicine, ‘Bronnie’ made sure her three children — Jimbo has an older brother Charlie, an engineer, and a sister Hester, who is also a doctor like their mother — all learnt to play an instrument.
“Dad was heavy on sport, so I think she was very aware that she may need to balance that, even though I can only remember hearing her play the piano once when I was a kid,” says Jimbo fondly. “But she wanted us to have that in our lives. Mum really drilled it into us.”