November 18, 2025
It was a pretty good crowd for a Friday … “piano man” Nathan Hartley’s slight adjustment to the Billy Joel classic summed up the mini-concert held recently to celebrate the arrival of a special gift to the South Burnett Regional Council.
A good crowd gathered at the Nanango Energy Museum to hear a series of musicians play all kinds of music on a “pop-up” piano donated to Council by the ABC.
The beautiful old piano – fully tuned! – was donated by the ABC to celebrate the Year of the Piano as well as promote its iview series, “The Piano”
More than 380 nominations were received by the ABC to receive a piano; the Nanango application put together by Jocelyn Richardson and Cr Jane Erkens was one of just 19 across Australia which were successful.
The piano was unveiled to the public on October 31 with a two-hour concert which featured performances by Nathan Hartley, Shayla Piano, Kelsey Anderson, Julee-anne Bell, Jessica McGrath, nine-year-old Marcus Patch and “The Piano” performer Josiah Little.
Josiah, a proud Djakunda man, starred in Episode 3 of the TV series.
South Burnett mayor Kathy Duff said the concert had been a great way to spend a Friday morning, listening to all the great talent that is in the South Burnett region.
Cr Erkens said she had originally hoped the piano could have been located at Ringsfield House, but as it is a “pop-up” it had to be positioned where members of the public can just wander in, sit down and play.
And that’s exactly what you can do … anyone who can play a little bit more than “Chopsticks”, can drop in at any time into the Energy Museum in Henry Street, Nanango, to “tickle the ivories”.
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Nathan Hartley plays Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” – Video by Charlie Spagalli Photography & Videography
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