Robbie Burns Hotel to honour Uncle Ossie Cruse with Archibald prize entry reveal, music, and stories

The special event will be held on Friday March 25, with the bar and kitchen open at the hotel from 6pm, and Uncle Ossie to do a Welcome to Country and oversee a sacred fire ceremony from 6.30pm.

Author John Blay and journalist Bill Brown will speak at the event, both sharing their personal stories and recollections of Uncle Ossie.

The resident pianist at the Robbie Burns, Joshua McHugh, has also composed an original piece of music that will be accompanied by Uncle Ossie playing the gumleaf.

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Ms Pye has had live portrait sittings with Uncle Ossie for the past several months.

She said the first time she met Uncle Ossie, the first thing he said to her was, "so what's your station in life," and she remembered thinking that no-one had ever said that to her before.

She proceeded to tell him about her philosophy in life around non-duality.

"I said something like, 'it's the unity of everyone being connected and being one, and we are all one,' and he said, 'I like it'."

She said his work as a Christian Minister for the Aboriginal Evangelist Fellowship and her attendance at one of his services inspired her to create a portrait that was both traditional and subversive of classic Renaissance art.

"It's a very big part of his journey, so that gave me a sense of direction of what I wanted to do with him in the portrait," said Ms Pye.

"I studied Renaissance painting so it's quite traditional and based on a classical practice, but the piece isn't particularly classic, so compositionally it's not classic," she said.

Ms Pye said she understood that while it was very difficult to be selected as a finalist in the Archibald competition, she wanted to take the opportunity to create the piece and be able to present it to the community in the form of "a really fun event".

"The more I've got to know Ossie the more I've come to realise what a brilliant human being he is and how much he's contributed, so I wanted to celebrate him," she said.

Ms Pye said the event on Friday was also going signal the official name change of the beer garden to the Garden of Divine Intoxication.

She has also been undergoing the "alchemist process" of creating non-alcoholic tonic drinks that will now be available on the menu.

"They're full of gorgeous and yummy ingredients," said Ms Pye.

Some of the ingredients she has used to create this new line of tonic drinks include locally grown garlic, black pepper, figs and prunes, ginger, and yogurt.

"I want people to be able to come here and feel really satisfied, it's not just about being able to serve alcohol, because the alcohol gives people a certain sense of why they come and belong, but I want the people who come who are not necessarily wanting to drink to have something really great to drink," she said.

Local ukulele band SURG will also be playing from 7.30pm with a set of Nick Cave tribute songs.

There will be food available from Heaven's Kitchen, with gluten free and dairy free options, plus freshly shucked oysters and North of Eden Gin.

Bookings are greatly appreciated, phone Katie Pye on 0407 474 459 to book.

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