North Parramatta: Nick Henning is The O’Connell St Walking Dress Up Guitar Guy

He’s the man whose daily amble and salute brings a smile to jaded motorists but his quirky ritual at North Parramatta also led to a diagnosis that saved his life.

Joanne Vella

@Parramatta_News

4 min read

March 23, 2022 - 5:03PM

Parramatta Advertiser

NSW

Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.

He’s known as The O’Connell St Walking Dress Up Guitar Guy. His alter ego is Romulus Romeo but his real name is Nick Henning, whose outrageous get-up and salutes have become a novelty among drivers passing him during rush hour at North Parramatta.

The insurance auditor was inspired to strum his guitar in his NSW Origin knee-high socks, blue Hawaiian shirt and sailor hat after his company Hannover Life Re of Australasia encouraged employees to exercise and beat cabin fever during lockdown in 2020.

Henning watched Victorians on TV get kitted up in their superhero outfits at the supermarket and wanted to emulate that fun in his own neighbourhood.

Nick Henning salutes drivers at Barney and O’Connell streets, which he calls his hot spot.

He took to O’Connell, Barney and Church streets from July that year and became an almost-daily fixture.

“It started like that but what I thought was going to be a one-off sort of changed because people were stopping their car telling me, saying the nicest things to me,’’ he said.

But several neighbours who watched his antics saw something was not right.

“I couldn’t see straight, I was having trouble walking and I got diagnosed with a brain tumour,’’ Henning said.

“The tumour was on my cerebellum so that affects your balance and people were saying ‘Hey man, you’re walking like you’re drunk’.’’

In October 2020, his benign ependymoma brain tumour diagnosis led to him spending 56 nights in hospitals including the intensive care unit at Westmead.

He landed a visit from three local police who responded to an email about his absence.

“They took time out of their day for me and that’s something that’s had a lasting effect on me and taught me about the great humanity we have in our community here, and that our police are people who genuinely care for us.’’

Nick Henning rejects a social media presence but wants his fans to support NSW Police Legacy.

After the cops’ kind gesture, not only was he motivated to continue being North Parramatta’s guitar man but elected to make NSW Police Legacy his charity and raise its profile.

“This whole walking thing’s become so much more than just the silly beginnings that it had,’’ he said.

“This taught me that the world’s a much nicer place than what we probably think it is. There’s a lot more goodness in the world than what we sometimes realise and I see it in the way people engage and respond to me.

“Once people hear that I’m coherent, straight away that concern about whether you’re affected by drugs or alcohol is eliminated.’’

One of Henning’s fans is local comic Rob Shehadie, who praised him on Instagram recently. A flattered Henning, who refuses to reveal his age, could think of no better endorsement.

Shehadie isn’t the only commuter earning a salute.

“My demographic I would say is about 85 per cent tradies and professional drivers,’’ Henning said.

“There’s a mandatory salute for bus drivers, police, ambulance, fireys. Fireys get on the megaphone sometimes for me. I love that.

“There’s drivers I see (every day), there’s a Sharma’s food truck, him and I are always saluting each other.

“Tony (Barakat) over there, the backhoe operator, he’s been really good to me.

“Maltese love singing. They always want Elvis, which I can’t actually do. I get Maltese wanting to do the singalong; they’re probably some of the more outgoing.

“From a cultural point of view, Lebanese go from zero to 100 pretty fast. I find their personalities really stimulating. I’ve had guys with tattoos, the toughest looking guys in the world sing Christina Aguilera with me and some of these guys look like they could be bikies in their spare time, for all I know.

“Asians are usually really passive and reserved in their personality and their face is really still but once I do a salute their face lights up like the sun hitting the moon.’’

Tony Barakat works across the road from Nick Henning and hears ‘a lot of beeping, a lot of support’ for him. ‘With everything the way the world is at the moment, it’s a good change, especially knowing his back story’.

It’s also small observations that are seared in his memory, such as the Our Lady of Mercy College student steering a powerful ute.

“She reminded me of one of the Charlie’s Angels moments and she was driving really well,’’ he said.

“What I see with OLMC is, I see them on their Ls and they’re good drivers. This one girl, she was a red P-plater and she just did the best reverse parallel park I’ve ever seen.

“I will say this about the OLMC kids; they’ve actually made me into a better person. I had no patience for young people and then I started seeing these young people driving very carefully. “They’ve been very respectful to me and I have no patience for young adults.’’

It’s hard to miss Nick Henning, a Christian whose guitar bears John 15:11, to remind people to find joy in God.

Of course, not everyone appreciates his sense of humour.

“I get the odd guy calling me a p*** C****,’’ he said.

“I get one guy who I know doesn’t like me every morning and said ‘Give it up f****head’ but I think what happened was someone next to him told him off because I haven’t heard from him since.’’

He imagines his conservative parents would not have a high opinion of his “hobby” so has zipped his lips about it.

Henning, who almost qualified for the national baseball team in his youth, also penned 10 books on baseball and rugby league (including his beloved Balmain Tigers) but is happy being a “one-trick pony’’ and strumming his guitar, when he’s not auditing insurance claims.

“I always wanted to be an actor or a professional athlete,’’ he said.

“This part of my alter ego is coming out. I probably always wanted something like this but I didn’t think something as simple as this would receive the level of engagement from people.’’