Australian Dictionary of Biography

Michael Heaney, no date

Bob Bolton collection

Michael Heaney (1940–1999), musician, public servant, and volunteer, was born on 29 October 1940 at Dalmorton Cottage, Straiton, Ayrshire, Scotland, youngest of three sons of James (Jimmy) Heaney, ploughman, and his wife Catherine (Katie) Cameron, née Sykes. Mike attended Straiton primary school and the Maybole High School, and in his final year achieved a perfect score in maths in the university entrance exam. On leaving school he chose a paying position over full-time study and became a laboratory assistant with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Nobel in Ardeer, Ayrshire, a large factory known to locals as ‘the Dinnamite’ as it primarily produced blasting products. While there he studied at the Paisley Technical College where he attained higher national certificates in chemistry (1962) and mathematics (1966). By the age of twenty-five Heaney had risen to become an experimental officer in explosives research.

On 13 March 1965 Heaney married Margaret Hamill, a laboratory assistant, at the Church of Christ, Coplaw Street, Glasgow. In 1966 he left ICI Nobel and enrolled at the University of Strathclyde (BSc, 1968) where he majored in mathematics. In 1969 the couple left Glasgow for Australia and in December that year he began working in the Department of Supply in Canberra as an experimental officer. Later, he held positions in the Department of Trade as a project officer, and as principal research officer in the Department of Resources and Energy. By the mid-1990s he was a section head in the Department of Primary Industry and Energy where he had a wide range of responsibilities, including leading a team that developed contingency plans for handling domestic and international oil supply disruptions. He also completed postgraduate units in econometrics at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (1974) and the Australian National University (1976).

Heaney’s chief love though was Scottish music. Country dance during his youth was immensely popular in Scotland and in many of the Commonwealth countries due, in part, to the efforts of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. His family would attend the local dances where he would play the piano, which he had learnt by ear, when the band took a break. Some of the hotels and public houses in Scotland kept musical instruments for the use of their patrons, before replacing them with jukeboxes in the 1960s. When the Criterion Hotel in Ardrossan discarded its piano accordion, Heaney acquired it. He applied to his music the exacting and precise approach he had for his mathematical studies. Largely self-taught, he built his repertoire listening to the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Scottish dance programs and to local musicians.

Soon after arriving in Canberra, Heaney met the accordion player and fellow Scottish immigrant Hugh McKenna, a leading Scottish dance musician. McKenna introduced Heaney to the Scottish dance scene, and together they participated in a weekly meeting of enthusiasts at the Burns Club, Forrest. McKenna mentored Heaney, who soon became as expert as his friend. Later Heaney won the musician of the year award at the 1977 Kapunda Celtic Music Festival.

When McKenna left Canberra in 1972 Heaney became the pre-eminent local provider of Scottish dance music. He joined forces with the fiddler Bob McInnes and his band Stringfiddle Tradition, and together in May 1974 they formed what became Heaney’s band, Reel Tradition, with Andrew Ross (banjo), Paul Pearce (tea chest bass), and Kate Scott (piano and fiddle). Over the years other members included Colin McJannett (banjo), Mary McMullen (piano), and dance caller Judy Rowsell (later Baker). After his marriage ended, Heaney and Baker became partners. With the formation of Reel Tradition Heaney got to know the broader folk community and became an active member of the Monaro Folk Music Society. The band provided dance music in Canberra and across Australia for more than two decades. They released an album in 1988, Happy We’ve Been A’Thegither (Sandstock Music). The group disbanded in October 1991 and in 1995 Heaney formed Fresh Aire, which also specialised in Scottish dance music.

Heaney hosted radio programs on the community broadcaster 2XX, notably the Scottish program Caledonia Calls, as well as the general folk program, Lark in the Morning, and on occasions Celtic Circle. From the 1970s he played at the National Folk Festival. As a volunteer, in 1994 he managed its ticketing sales team and helped to design the operating systems. He also supported local initiatives, including playing for dance classes organised for visually impaired students by the Blind Society of the ACT Inc. In 1999 he was posthumously awarded ACT volunteer of the year.

A lover of walking and fishing, Heaney spent time with Baker on their bush block in the mountain country behind Nimmitabel, New South Wales. He developed a deep knowledge of Australian folklore and history, and a particular interest in the Anzac tradition and its memorialisation in country towns. His interest in sport and mathematics melded in cricket. He was known simultaneously to watch test cricket on television, listen to it on the radio, and record scores and other data on his computer, and took pride in delivering statistical analysis quicker than the commentators.

Heaney was a gentle man with a strong sense of fairness and a wry humour. He was humble about his musical ability and generous in sharing his knowledge. Throughout his life, he retained the qualities of humanity and integrity that his family had inspired. His musical acumen served Canberra, the folk community, and the Scottish diaspora in Australia for decades. On 25 April 1999 he died in Canberra of bowel cancer, and was buried in Gungahlin cemetery, Mitchell, survived by Baker, his partner of seventeen years.