[Editor: An article about the death of Jack Moses. Published in The Narandera Argus, 13 July 1945.]
Jack Moses dead
Well-known country show identity
Residents of Narandera were sorry to learn of the death of Jack Moses, the well-known show identity, which took place at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Tuesday last.
He had been ill only a few weeks, entering hospital a week before his death.
“Nine Miles From Gundagai” gives only a fitful glimpse of Jack Moses, an 85-year-old lover of wine and song.
It was only one of many jingles in which Moses, lover of the country and country folk, touched off many simple emotional chords. For Moses, as he travelled the State selling his wines, found words forming on his lips to express — sometimes crudely certainly — his response to the trials of the bush and the spirit with which they were faced.
The meat and the wheat and the fruit that we eat;
And the butter we spread on our bread;
Come from the toil of the man on the soil,
And that’s how the nations are fed.
There’s nothing in it beyond pleasant jingle, yet it and hundreds of other pieces will be treasured by thousands of people who in town and village remember Jack Moses and his “Nine Miles From Gundagai.”
For about 60 years Jack Moses travelled in the interests of the wine industry. He was always welcome at country shows and other gatherings, where he usually “topped the bill” at smoke concerts as a reciter of his own jingle, and as the teller of bush yarns. He assisted the Red Cross and other patriotic and charitable organisations.
Moses talked almost incessantly of the need for greater primary production. Whether one met him in the city or country at midday, or on a train at 8 o’clock in the morning, he pleaded for the man on the land and for greater and better primary products.
He originated “Bush Week” and other similar shows in Sydney a number of years ago, when the products of country districts were exhibited in shop windows. These displays increased knowledge of the country, and they induced many city boys to go on the land.
Jack Moses regarded that as sufficient reward, because it meant more people to produce cattle and sheep, and wool and wheat, and all other products of the soil.
For many years he visited the Narandera show and was well known here. He had a soft spot in his heart for Narandera, and during “Bush Week” in Sydney he worked untiringly to exhibit the best of the products from the Narandera district, which was designated the “Door of the Great South West.” On that occasion he was assisted by the late William Guest, E. T. Lapthorne, J. B. Rickard, and Mr. R. H. Hankinson. Of the quintette Mr. Hankinson is now the only one living. The products were displayed in the windows of Sydney shops, and created a great deal of attention. Jack Moses visited Narandera until about two years ago, and was always pleased to renew old acquaintances and exchange reminiscences.
He is survived by one son.
The funeral took place on Wednesday last, when the remains were interred in the South Head cemetery.
Source:
The Narandera Argus (Narandera, NSW), 13 July 1945, p. 1
The Institute of Australian Culture
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