Mr Donald Papst OAM for 75 years of musical service

When he learned about the OAM, Mr Papst said he was highly honoured.

"Overall, my diary has had an average of one to three music jobs a week since my late teens, so I must have played for at least 6000 community occasions in the past 75 years," he said.

"It's a huge honor for Dad; he's 90 now and still loves his music. We are very proud of him," his son Trevor said.

Mr Papst recently recalled some of his fondest memories when compiling his memoir with his daughter-in-law, Jenni Papst.

They have generously shared them with the Wimmera Mail-Times to share with you here.

"His life has been filled with his love of family, a passion for restoring old vehicles, riding motorcycles in his more able years, and the joy of seeing people tapping their toes or dancing to his music, which began at an early age and has continued," Ms Papst said

"His entire work life was split between mechanics and bus and taxi driving, sometimes juggling two or more at a time and sometimes playing music twice a week.

"He always had time to squeeze his music into life, which has remained a passion," she said.

Among his earliest memories is listening to music on the family's radiogram. It was a treasured item, and he was not allowed to touch it, but his mother encouraged his love of music by playing vinyl records for him.

When visiting a friend who owned a piano, she often took this opportunity to play.

His father played in a band called the Merrymakers Orchestra during the 1830s and 40s, contributing to his love of music and the enjoyment it brought people.

"The merry in Merrymakers may have been bolstered by the little hip flasks carried by some members," he laughed.

He often joined his Father's band playing his little accordion. On one such occasion, "a young wild fellow rode his horse up the side of the hall, up the steps, in through the door and circled the dancers on the floor.

"We were frightened somebody was going to get hurt. My Dad was an excellent horse handler and managed to pitch the rider and horse out pretty fast," he said.

"Over the years, I played dance music for all sorts of events throughout the Wimmera and Mallee: fundraisers, dance clubs, kitchen teas, special birthdays, engagements, weddings, and anniversaries," he said.

"One of the greatest pleasures I've had was the privilege to play for generations of family gatherings."

For over a quarter of a century, he has played for the Cancer Council fundraising dances twice a month, and for 20 years, he has entertained shoppers at the Haven Market either as a solo performer or with the Jazz Band, Key Change.

Although most people would know the name Key Change, they may not have known the band was almost called by an entirely different name, Don-Key Change. because he would often begin playing in a different key to the rest of the band, and they'd call out, " Don-Key Change."

"I didn't like that name, so we decided to drop the Don part and stick with 'Key Change,'" he said.

"That was about 18 years ago."

At about that time, the band decided to play at the Hall's Gap Jazz Festivals and has since played at the Dimboola German Festivals, the Horsham Garden Shows, on a Murray Riverboat, and many others.

"I first played with Robyn Koschitzke more than twenty years ago at Contemporary Church services, and our musical friendship has continued ever since.

" Robyn plays trumpet, and I asked her to accompany me at the Sailors Home Hall Old Time Dance; she didn't know the old music, and she played by ear too, so I taught her around 35 songs so we could play for the dance.

"We had the honour of playing at the last dance ever held there," he said.

Following this partnership, Ian and Maureen Lehmann from Dimboola and Steve Ellis joined the regular jazz dance band.

Debutante training and balls were a highlight for Mr. Papst for around 12 years. He enjoyed watching how the students from St. Brigids, Horsham, and Murtoa Colleges danced to the music he played.

"For over 20 years, I've played at both the Wimmera and Lutheran Nursing Homes, and sometimes we have fantastic singalongs with all the old songs."

"These songs bring back such happy memories for me and those I play for."

Sadly, in 2019, the treasured book his father passed on to him, which had a record of every song they knew and helpful hints for the two non-music readers, was stolen from his car outside the Hamilton Lamb Hall after an event.

"It was devastating to me to lose my music collection; it would have meant nothing to anyone else and was not only my 'Bible' but Dad's compilation of songs. It was historic and sentimental to me.

"The bag it was in was never recovered but many kind people gave me sheets of music, which I couldn't read to play from, but I added my own notes and had enough to keep going."

While he has mastered many instruments during his lifetime, including drums, piano accordions, chanter, harmonica, mouth organs, of which he still owns 18, a church organ, keyboard, saxophone, and trumpet, and still doesn't read music, he hasn't stopped learning and intends to take up the ukulele sometime soon.

From a small boy who couldn't read music and who used to sit in a box pretending it was a car with a record player in it so he could listen to his favorite songs - to being the recipient of the King's Honours (King Charles III), he is pleased to see his love of music has been passed on to his children. He married his wife Val (dec) in 1956, and they had five sons: Greg (dec), Ray (dec), Trevor, Russell, and Andrew.

"I have been blessed all my life," he said.