Timorese abattoir workers perform for hundreds at Port Fairy Folk Festival after answering call for musicians
/ By Emily BisslandThree years into a four-year working visa at an abattoir in south-west Victoria, Jose Da Costa was missing his wife and three children back in Timor-Leste.
Then one day he walked into the abattoir's tearoom and spotted a flyer on the pin board that would completely transform his experience in Australia.
It read: "Do you play an instrument? Would you like to work with a local recording artist?"
A year later, Da Costa stepped onto the stage at one of Australia's biggest music festivals with 14 of his Timorese colleagues and a new Australian friend he calls "brother".
From cameraman to meat worker
In Timor-Leste, Da Costa had worked for various aid organisations as a project manager and then as a documentary cameraman, but securing the four-year visa to work in Australia as a meat processor was the opportunity he needed to change his family's life.
"With this opportunity, we can build a house, we can buy a car, we can send our children to school," Da Costa said.
"I put down my camera and picked up a knife."
The abattoir, Midfield Meat International at Warrnambool, employs 1,500 people, including more than 300 migrant workers through the Australian government's PALM (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility) scheme.
Among the migrant employees is a large contingent from Timor-Leste.
Like many of the international workers at Midfield, they have found it hard to find their place in the wider Warrnambool community.
"We live here for four years, we want to connect with the community, to become friends, to play music," Da Costa said.
He was feeling homesick and despondent when he noticed the flyer on the pin board.
It had been posted by musician Billy Barker and, in that moment, Da Costa saw a way for the Timorese workers to enrich their lives.
'Hello, we'd like to jam'
Barker, an alt-folk singer-songwriter, was also keen to make connections in Warrnambool.
After growing up on a sheep farm near Casterton, in western Victoria, he moved to Melbourne for study and the music scene.
When he returned to the state's west as an adult, he said he was struck by the cultural difference.
"Melbourne is so vibrant, so multicultural, but I think you need to work quite hard in areas like this to keep those things alive," Barker said.
"I was kind of desperate, since moving back from Melbourne, to reconnect."
Barker said he'd seen Midfields' Pacifika employees heading off to work in the early mornings while driving to his own day job as a carpenter.
"We see them walking to and from work, but we don't get to interact with them … I had this desire to connect with them," he said.
Barker had a hunch there'd be some talented musicians among them, as music was a strong part of many cultures, and he thought it might be a way to open the door to new friendships.
But his flyers languished in the abattoir tearoom for three months before Da Costa made contact and a carload of Timorese musicians arrived at his home on a small farm at Killarney, west of Warrnambool.
Twelve months later, standing on stage at this year's Port Fairy Folk Festival, Barker told the audience how things had "snowballed".
"I finally got a WhatsApp message that just said, 'Hello, we play guitar and drums and we'd like to jam'," he said.
Barker said the first meeting was initially awkward as he tried to get to know the musicians and break through the language barrier over a cup of coffee.
But once everyone picked up an instrument and started playing, the room came alive.
'I have a big dream'
Among the musicians was David Darba.
A percussionist back home in Dili, Darba had been teaching music and playing with the Dili orchestra before arriving in Australia.
"I have a big dream," Darba said.
"I want to make a space for the music community in Dili, to build a studio for young people to come play music and share culture.
"But I have nothing. So I chose to come to Australia, just to work and make money for my family, for myself, and for my dream."
Darba said he had found it hard to make a new life away from his home in Dili.
"When I came to Warrnambool, the first thing I thought was, 'I want to look for some music'," he said.
"Sometimes I just walked around town looking, but I didn't find any music community.
"Life was like a flat line — every day you go to work, come back home, cook, eat, sleep, wake up again and go to work.
"I felt depressed, like I wanted to go back to Dili."
Then he met Barker and his heart swelled with optimism. He soon became a regular visitor at Barker's home, and is now the drummer in his band.
The big stage
The Port Fairy Folk Festival has been attracting international artists and tens of thousands of music-lovers each year to south-west Victoria.
When Barker's band received an invitation to perform at the prestigious event, he saw an opportunity for his new Timorese friends.
"I was talking to the festival director, Justin Rudge, about the Timor-Leste connection I'd made, and about how so many of David's friends living here are so musical as well," Barker said.
"He said he'd be happy to give them a slot on the program.”
So Darba and Da Costa recruited 13 people to form new performance group Lian Husi Timor, which translates to Voice of the East.
The group rehearsed throughout summer on the hot tarmac of the car park outside their worker accommodation, choreographing dances and learning lyrics between working long days and nights at the abattoir.
Twelve months on from Da Costa seeing Barker’s flyer in the meatworks’ tearoom, Lian Husi Timor took to the folk festival stage to perform and to share their culture with hundreds of people, receiving a rapturous response.
Maun (brother)
Barker, Darba and Da Costa now refer to each other affectionately as 'Mr Billy', 'Mr Jose' and 'Mr David'.
They also call each other 'maun', the deferential term for 'brother' in Timor-Leste's native Tetun language.
Barker says the whole experience has taught him about the power of connection, and how a simple gesture can reap great rewards.
"I'm not super educated, I've got no experience in dealing with other cultures, I'm just a carpenter," he said.
"But, you can just go put a flyer up and then 12 months later we've got this amazing opportunity happening."
Darba feels lucky to have met Mr Billy, saying his world was instantly filled with music again.
"Now, I feel like I have family here," he said.
"I'm not good at speaking English but with music, we feel connected."
Since their success at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, Darba has new dreams for Lian Husi Timor.
"I want it to include people from Warrnambool too," he said.
"So together we can sing each other's songs, learn each other's languages."