Tonkin Family inducted into the Adelaide Music Collective Hall of Fame
THERE’S one Adelaide pub that comes to mind if you’re after live music and it has been inducted into South Australia’s Music Hall of Fame. We meet the family behind the Hindmarsh institution.
BRIAN Tonkin is reluctant to get behind The Gov’s bar again, even if it is just for a family photo.
He might get called upon to pull a pint, which would spell disaster for his long plaited ponytail.
“The day I stopped working in a dairy I grew a beard and said I was never going to shave again, and the day I poured my last beer at The Gov. I said I’m never going to cut my hair again.” he says.
But with some encouragement from his wife, Vivien, daughters Melissa and Joanne Tonkin and grandson Louis Tonkin-Phanoulas, he steps behind the wooden counter for the first time in 18 years.
The Tonkin family have been running the iconic Hindmarsh live music venue for 23 years and were last month inducted into the Adelaide Music Collective Hall of Fame.
The collective is an invite-only group of local artists dedicated to furthering the city’s music scene.
Vivien says there was plenty of emotion in the room when the family was presented with the award on the stage of the Port Rd pub, not to mention a big follow up party with plenty of music and dancing.
“A lot of people who came along had watched the family grow up and so many people were emotional and crying,” Vivien says.
The pub is now run by Melissa and Joanne with help from their brother, Richard.
The three siblings have seven children between them, some of whom have also started part-time jobs at the Gov., including Louis, 13, who had just finished his first day of stock counting when the Westside Weekly came to visit last week.
Vivien, aged in her 70s, was born into the pub trade.
She grew up in The Portland Hotel in Victoria, then a hub for war veterans and travellers, where her father was the publican.
She and dairy farmer Brian married as teenagers, eventually taking over her father’s pub — their first of many.
Amateur musicians and long time folk music lovers, the couple dragged their children to “every folk festival around” before being enticed to move to Adelaide by the “arty” premier Don Dunstan.
They bought, renovated and sold the Bridgewater and Maylands hotels, finding themselves in the fortunate position of being able to retire in their fifties.
But after a while, their love of pubs and music drew them back in to the scene.
They bought The Gov. in 1993 at a time when it was painted in 80s rainbow colours and in bad need of repairs.
Vivien introduced a warm, grungy feel, adamant it wouldn’t be “slick” like so many venues around town.
Melissa says the family is dedicated to supporting musicians.
“We end up subsidising a lot of the acts but it all works out,” Melissa says.
“It’s very important for up and coming bands to be able to have their CD launces here.”
Looking to the future, Joanne envisages all the seven Tonkin grandchildren will work at The Gov., which employs about 30 people.
Away from the pub, the family meet up for dinner once a week.
“We have a rule that we won’t talk about The Gov. (at dinner),” Brian says.
“But we always break it.”