Celebrated Gunaikurnai gumleaf player Uncle Herb Patten first encountered gumleaf music as a child in Newmerella, when he witnessed his mother's brother, Uncle Lindsay Thomas, pull a gumleaf from a tree.
"I was only five years of age and it fascinated me. He grabbed this leaf off the tree and I saw him put the leaf to his mouth and he made a sound," Uncle Herb said.
Uncle Lindsay was just one of the many gumleaf performers hailing from areas such as Lake Tyers in Victoria and Wallaga Lake in southern New South Wales, who performed in travelling gumleaf bands throughout regional Victoria after World War I.
Playing at mechanics institutes, gumleaf performers were often World War II soldier-musicians who would entertain communities with military medleys of wartime standards such as Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag and It's a Long Way to Tipperary.
"We had a piano in our family, that was there before I was born, my grandmother bought it in Melbourne before she moved to Newmerella. There was no TV of course in the early 50s," Uncle Herb said.
Coming from a family of entertainers, a young Herb Patten learnt to play many of the wartime standards on the gumleaf by ear, eventually making his national radio debut on the ABC Australian Amateur Hour radio show hosted by Terry Dear in the 1950s.
"Through the influence of my gumleaf playing and my Aunty Violet playing the piano, I appeared in that show and came second," Uncle Herb said of performing at the Orbost Mechanics Institute as a nine-year-old.
When coming second brings a second wind
Uncle Herb went on to play at the first Gumleaf Championships in Australia, which were held at the Maryborough Golden Wattle Festival in 1970.
Over the next 20 years, he would regularly compete at the championships, which were frequently taken out by serial Queensland winner Les Hawthorne.
"I came second, second, second — about six times", Uncle Herb said of his experiences playing in talent competitions.
It was an omen that was ultimately confirmed when he captured national attention as the runner up on the inaugural series of Australia's Got Talent in 2007.
But for what he may have missed out on in competition prize money, Uncle Herb has sustained a consistent public profile and celebrated identity as a gumleaf performer and historian.
After collaborating with Monash University musicologist Dr Robin Ryan on several research projects, including his definitive book How to Play the Gumleaf in 1999, Uncle Herb achieved a Master of Arts degree at RMIT in 2007.
As a gumleaf performer, he has performed as a busker on the streets of Melbourne, to the stage at the Sydney Opera House, bringing the tradition of gumleaf playing to schools, festivals, public events and frequently appearing on TV and radio.
"I've done that many high schools, and universities. I've done that many openings. I've performed at the Entertainment Centre across from the Yarra several times. I've done Moomba from the '60s, '70s, through the '80s."
Still bringing joy to the masses
Approaching his 80th birthday, Uncle Herb continues to play publicly, hoping one day to travel to China to record more music and perform at the Leaf Flute festival.
From his continued research, he suspects that melodic leaf playing may have been introduced to Australia via the Chinese who came to Australia during the gold rush.
But with much of the southern part of Australia's Indigenous history lost during stolen generations, the origins of gumleaf playing for Indigenous people remain unclear.
But in an effort to keep the gumleaf tradition alive, Uncle Herb recently performed as part of a showcase of top performers at the Giiyong Festival in Eden, New South Wales.
Organised by side fellow gumleaf master Uncle Ossie Cruise, the event celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Wallaga Lake Gumleaf band, which toured southern NSW and East Gippsland in the 1920s.
Still amazed at how gumleaf playing captures the imagination of young and old and people from all cultural backgrounds and walks of life, Uncle Herb hopes to inspire young children to take up the readily available instrument.
"It's the cheapest instrument in the world."
