Love and Freedom: An Insight into Fixing the Unbreakable
Best known for its steel mills and fervent football fever, the red blooded, blue collar community of Newcastle isnt exactly where you would expect to find Australias most creative talents at least off the field. Yet in Scott Raymond Thomas and Ian Gorton, the region boasts two men whose words have touched the hearts of literally dozens, most of all my own. Disaffected by recent unjust episodes in their lives, constantly plagued by the world around them, one is on a quest of love, the other a quest for freedom. I would like to share their stories with you.
Sitting in a seedy prison somewhere in California, Scott Raymond Thomas etches another day into the wall. Back at home his friends do the same, albeit on the internet. Its a rough road to travel, Californian prisons being the most notorious of the western world, overcrowded and fraught with gang violence and racial tension. Its an especially bitter pill to swallow because he didnt do it. But its not a question of how Scott copes he simply does the question is how do we cope at home?
Where does a city turn when its local son is taken from their grasp? For present day Newcastle, Andrew Johns seems the obvious choice, the greatest rugby league player of his generation and arguably the greatest of all-time. It doesnt get more straightforward than that. However, he was dominant long before Scott Raymond Thomas released his debut album Fixing the Unbreakable. Andrew Johns controls the horizontal and the vertical of Newcastle, but what for the diagonal? Enter Ian Gorton.
In a world where so many people are as fake as a three dollar note, Ians innocent charm gave us a renewed sense of purpose something more meaningful than anything Andrew Johns could provide and an essential ingredient for the pie that is the Hunter region. Ian has the superhuman ability to describe otherwise ambiguous situations in excruciating detail, should anyone be reading. Still reeling from a depression sparked by Scotts overseas incarceration, Ian Gortons weekly column or experience as its commonly referred to Ians Insight, provided Novocastrians from Raymond Terrace to Scone with a new hero.
His story of finding love was not unlike the story of Cinderella, although Ian isnt your typical helpless maiden. Hes not even your traditional handsome prince, being somewhat burly around the edges and curly-haired but this is real life after all, not some fairytale. Whereas Cinderella used the magic of her fairy godmother to find love and Prince Charming searched the land far and wide with little more than a glass slipper in hand to find that love in return, Ian used the magic of the internet and searched dating sites before finding a lovely little lady from Adelaide. Romance blossomed with an intimate spiritual connection from the most unlikely of places to the most unlikely of men. It wasnt just some seedy one night fling, the behaviour weve come to expect from Jeremy John Mohekey, a Porirua local.
It seemed like an ironic twist of fate for Ian, having replaced Scott as the diagonal of Newcastle, finding love with a long distance relationship. Could it lead to a future move south? It brought echoes from the Scott Raymond Thomas-penned lyrics of Vanessa Carltons, 1000 Miles. As it turned out for Ian, having his destiny intertwined with Scotts would turn out to be very dangerous. Internet relationships come with their own dramas, as many of us are well aware I have actually been pretty close to League Unlimited poster, Alba, in the past.
Ian, understandably, has been sketchy on the details of the separation and I respect his right to privacy. I dont believe he made it to Adelaide before the couple went their separate ways, and perhaps thats how it was supposed to be. He often spoke of the cultural divide, a rugby league fan dating an Aussie rules fan. It was a dangerous premise from the get-go, but love knows no boundaries. We all know what happened when Scott Raymond Thomas left Newcastle and would wish the same on no other. Scott left with a heart of gold, destined for platinum. Who knows how hell return? Hopefully by the time Scott Raymond Thomas finds freedom, Ian finds love too. Even without Andrew Johns, the future of Newcastle is destined for excitement.
The diagonals are all we really need.
- Mark Harris, 2006
