PHOTO-2026-09-06-13-21-04

Suitability: Year 8-12

Duration: 55 minutes + 15 minute Q&A 

Cost per student: $8.80 (includes GST)

Minimum per show: $880 (includes GST) if less than 100 students

Ballad of patrick moore

In Frontier Wars: Ballad of Patrick Moore, Brett weaves music, memory and story to recreate the history of Australia's past. Patrick Moore is an Irish convict turned bushranger in 1820s Australia. His life is blown right open when he meets the Wiradjuri. 

As Patrick narrates his journey, he introduces us to the voices of history: governors, soldiers, settlers and the Wiradjuri people. Drawing on the words from the time, the play reveals a nation in conflict.

In 1824, Governor Thomas Brisbane declared 'martial law ... against the Aboriginal inhabitants of the Bathurst district'. Wiradjuri resistance leader Windradyne stood firm as violence spread across the plains.

Patrick tells of friendship, love and loss through Irish ballads, spoken work and haunting lullaby. 

Ballad of Patrick Moore is a powerful, age-appropriate story of survival and empathy, bringing young audiences face to face with Australia's past through history, music and storytelling.

The play helps students understand the colonial story through multiple perspectives. It's an opportunity for students to explore Aboriginal society before European arrival, the impact of British colonisation and resistance to dispossession. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Ballad of Patrick Moore is not a story of Country. That is a story Brett does not have permission to share. Brett's story is a story of community, of how people from his cultural heritage came to understand and respect the oldest continuing culture on earth.