Through Evans' Eyes

Marcus Milton, Beatrice and Adelaide Kenworthy with Will Schoenmaker

Nine year old Mitchell Conservatorium student, Will Schoenmaker was the joint winner of the Arts Alive 2795 Children's Writing Prize for 2010. He wrote a great story called Through Evans' Eyes in which Governor Macquarie's surveyor looks at Bathurst  in 2010.

In Will's story, the Conservatorium even gets a mention, as you will see when you read this extract from his story:

Hello everyone. My name is George William Evans. My statue was erected in King's Parade in 1913 and now I can see all around the area and watch how Bathurst has changed since I was alive.

I can hear laughter from the children coming out of Annie's Ice Cream Parlour, their faces covered in ice cream and fudge dripping down their arms.

Last year I watched as the builders completed the new bell tower at All Saints' Cathedral. It was exciting to hear the bells ring for the first time for the new Catholic Bishop of Bathurst, bishop Michael McKenna, the eleventh Bishop of Bathurst.

Every afternoon I see the children going into the Mitchell Conservatorium for their music lessons. Each Tuesday I see one boy called Will Schoenmaker as he goes to his piano lessons. He is getting better. I can hear him play Alouette and The Quarrel.

I can also see the Western Advocate building where each night journalists write the stories and the editors produce the newspaper. Early in the morning the newspapers are delivered to the people of Bathurst and the businesses I can see up and down George St ...

At Christmas time I hear the sounds of Christmas carols coming from Machattie Park. The children are excited waiting for Santa to arrive. Maybe this year Santa will leave a present for me at the base of my statue.

But I already have a great gift - I have the perfect place to watch life in Bathurst go by.

What a great story! You can read the whole thing in the Western Times 16th December, 2010 issue. And you can hear Will playing in a recent student concert here.