Vale Terry Moore

I am compelled to speak in honour of the life of a man I considered a dear friend and a hero.

I first met Terry Moore in 1988, while studying the foundations of performing arts at Northern Metro TAFE in Preston, Victoria. It was a remarkable course that required each of us to embrace all aspects of the performing arts: theatre, film and TV acting, circus skills, clowning, stand-up comedy, and all the behind-the-scenes roles as well; such as sound design, lighting, camera operation, vision switching, mask making, set building, front of house, and the whole shebang.

Terry had grown up on a flower farm out in Wandin, which always seemed quite fitting, given that his life’s work was so often about bringing beauty and joy into the world for the benefit of others.

Terry was a real one-of-a-kind character. He was a salt of the earth, no bullshit, true blue digger mate. We hadn’t seen much of each other over the past 20 years, due to living in different states, but we did catch up from time to time for hour long heart to hearts on the phone and through messages on social media.

About a year ago, though, he drove up from Melbourne and came to visit. It felt like no time had passed between us at all. We fell straight back into conversations about the good old days, laughing and sharing deeply, as was always the case with Tez.

He said to me that day that he had always felt most at home with the festival crews, the carny folk, the freaks and the weirdos. But in my experience, Tez seemed to fit in pretty well with people from all walks of life. He loved people and diversity, and through every one of his marvellous idiosyncrasies there was a consistency of character.

He was kind, sweet, humble, loyal, trustworthy, empathetic, generous, encouraging, happy go lucky, a real team player, and always willing to engage in imaginative play and spontaneity; the kind where everyone involved has fun and nobody gets hurt.

While studying back in the day, we learned the principles of improvisation through Keith Johnstone’s wonderful book Impro, and under the guidance of very caring teachers who created such a supportive, safe, trustworthy and encouraging environment in which vulnerability and risk taking could flourish.

In improvisation for the theatre, you quickly learn the value and importance of openness. You build a scene together out of nothing but play in front of a live audience. The very scaffolding of the structure you co-create demands that you accept whatever reality is presented to you. Your responsibility is to accept that reality and then extend it, or build upon it in some way.

To be good at this process requires great listening skills and a heightened awareness of all the ways someone might be offering you a building block: through the subtleties of body language, status, subtext, emotion and language, together with a willingness to trust the lightning-fast instincts of your own spontaneity.

Terry was brave. He threw himself onto the stage, trusting in the process and trusting in other people to catch his drift, or catch his fall.

His beautiful open heart and kind, piercing blue eyes always had that glint, that magic spark of cheekiness that seemed to say: “Life is an adventure. This moment is precious. Let’s make some magic.”

And away you’d go.

There was no menace in Terry.

He was a benevolent figure, sensitive and responsive to the needs of others. Although he was a talented and charismatic storyteller and actor, capable of deeply immersing himself in character through his natural empathy and his ability to experience the world through other people’s eyes, he had no preciousness about being in the spotlight.

He was just as comfortable holding the light and shining it on others, carrying a set on and off stage, or sweeping the theatre at the end of the night. There was no egotistical gratification required in Terry’s service to a show. He simply loved being connected to other people through the beauty and depth of shared and egalitarian meaning-making.

These qualities served him perfectly in his work as a festival manager and cultural director, helping to develop the character of late 90s and early 2000's St Kilda and lift it into the vibrant place so many know and love. He seemed determined that no aspect of it should be left out or unseen, always inclusive of its many multifaceted elements.

Terry’s love of flowers, of colours, of diversity, set him up perfectly for the role. And in the end, when he had to walk away, he said it was easy because it had never been about the accolades, the status or the money. It was always about bringing people together and celebrating the whole thing in all its beautiful and magnificent weirdness.

Tez was a big-hearted legend. A heart the size of Phar Lap’s.

When I think of Terry, I think of Hermann Hesse’s Journey to the East: where a group of travellers go in search of The Buddha, only to discover when they finally arrive at their destination that The Buddha has just left. Disappointed and outraged they demand an explanation only to discover that the servant who had carried all their luggage up the steep mountain, the same servant they had taken for granted, treated as someone bellow them, and dismissed as a tool to be used for their comfort and pleasure had actually been the Buddha all along.

Terry held this same grace.

He was always happy to help, no matter the task at hand.

We’ve been blessed by his service to community, to the arts, to family, to friends, or “diggers”, as he called us and always treated us like family.

We’ve been blessed.

A man of his time. No menace, no cruelty, no selfishness or hunger for self-gratification. Just the humble service of bringing people together and making a moment magical and forever memorable.

May the sweetness of his smile linger in our hearts and continue to light the way through the darkness.

Terry shall remain, for me, both an antithesis and an antidote to the struggles of our era. When those with power and privilege seek to break down the fabric of all that binds a functioning democracy and a decent society by sowing seeds of doubt, distrust and division, Terry’s life’s work was about creating community: spaces where everyone was welcome to contribute, or perhaps discover some lost piece of their own puzzle in the search for identity and belonging.

Terry saw each person as unique, but of equal value to the whole. He had no expectation that you should have to fit into a mould of his making. He had eyes to see the beauty of an individual and the heart to design an inclusive space for the exploration and celebration of that uniqueness.

From his work as an actor, to his work assisting those less fortunate, people with disability, the ageing, and people of different genders and cultural backgrounds; from event coordination to community arts management- Terry humbled himself, opened his heart, welcomed you in and built you up.

Terry made each moment count, and the world a better and more beautiful place.

It is a terrible loss that Terry has left us, but what a treasure he gave us all in knowing him. What a great example he set for a life well lived.

Vale Terry Moore.

A friend, a brother, a hero of our times. Photo by Marc Carra