Burdekin To Big Time

Don Walker

By Jacob Casha

For most people, featuring on the big screen at the rugby is about as much of the spotlight as they’ll ever get. And there’s nothing wrong with that—true notability is rare, reserved only for the exceptional. The anomalies. The people simply made for the spotlight.

And in this fresh segment, “Burdekin to Big Time”, we look at some of those people made for it—made in the Burdekin.

Our first local legend of the series? Well—whether you’ve heard of his name or not, chances are, you’ve heard his work. Enter stage left: Don Walker—former keyboardist and creative songwriting force for Australian rock powerhouse, Cold Chisel.

Once described as “one of Australia's greatest lyricists”, the Australian Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee was born right here in the Burdekin to a schoolteacher mother and a farming father, spending his formative years on the family cane farm on Rita Island.

Although the Walkers would relocate when Don was just four, it’s that vivid country imagery—as told through his earnest and raw, yet meticulous, lyrics—that pervades some of Cold Chisel’s most famous works. Think: “Flame Trees”, “Bow River”, and “Khe Sanh”.

Beyond his work with Cold Chisel, Walker would go on to have quite the solo career, earning national recognition and perching himself among the highest echelon of Australian musicians.

Whether the Burdekin can take some credit for that or not, I don’t know. But, hey—once a Burdekinite, always a Burdekinite.

‍