Old Butter Factory musical instrument store to rebuild from flood

A $10,000 accordion was trashed, but a ukulele with a hidden note from a Tobruk veteran survived. Hear how 75-year-old local legend Christiaan Dolislager is planning a remarkable comeback.

It should have been the day the music died, when flood and mud swept through the shop of local identity Christiaan Dolislager.

But that would be to discount the resilience and borderline bloody-mindedness of the 75-year-old.

Mr Dolislager is determined to rebuild and re-open his musical instrument store in the Old Butter Factory at Bellingen.

The cost of the inundation has been cruel – a third of his uninsured stock ruined, including a rare electronic accordion he valued at $10,000.

“There were 296 different sounds in there,” he said of the lost instrument.

Christiaan Dolislager at his flood-hit musical instrument retail and repair shop at the Old Butter Factory. Picture: Chris Knight

“I had three inches of mud through the store. The cellos have fallen apart – the water has dissolved all of the glue.”

Mr Dolislager, who lost his wife last year, hopes some Coffs Coast ‘folkies’ (musicians) might take on some of the damaged instruments as a restoration project.

“I’d hate to just throw them out,” he said.

“Maybe someone doesn’t want to see their wife for a while so they could try and fix one.”

Entertainer Christiaan Dolislager through the ages as an accordion player of mostly French music. Picture: Chris Knight

Mr Dolislager, who plays, sells and repairs instruments, believes his inaction after the first flood four weeks’ earlier turned out to be a blessing.

“I put everything up higher (in the store) and hadn’t got around to putting things back,” he said.

“I was lucky with my violins – they are safe.”

The shop is a treasure trove of curious things, including this standing lamp in the guise of Grace Jones. Picture: Chris Knight

Another win was a ukulele from New Zealand which he had restored.

“There was a note hidden inside that and it turned out to be from a man who served in the Second World War, at Tobruk,” he said.

One of the casualties of the flood which swept through the artisan galleries at the butter factory were two large synthetic cows which normally greet visitors at the entrance of the popular tourist spot.

“They just floated away,” Mr Dolislager said – though some survived.

Two of the manufactured cows outside the Old Butter Factory at Bellingen were swept away in floodwater – but these ones remained safe. Picture: Chris Knight

For now, he’s hellbent on getting his shop back in business.

“Some burly blokes came to help me out (with the clean-up) and I am so very thankful for that,” he said.

Quite simply, the show and the sounds will go on.