By Tony Wright
Thieves who broke into a car in Melbourne this week found themselves lumbered with exotic loot prone to loud squawking in the wrong hands: a century-old set of bagpipes belonging to a famed Scottish rock band.
The thief or thieves, apparently figuring there was a seriously limited market for such a distinctive item, dumped the pipes in a CBD alley, but kept a guitar, a computer and photographic equipment.
Scott Wood (right) playing his century-old bagpipes with bandmates Craig Espie (fiddle) and Jodie Bremaneson (bass).Credit: Jason Dargan
A tradie simply known as Tony found the bagpipes abandoned in the alleyway on Thursday morning.
He knew exactly what he was looking at.
He’d heard the piper of Celtic rock band Skerryvore, Scott Wood, interviewed on 3AW about his loss on Wednesday.
Tony the tradie phoned 3AW and was put in touch with the deeply relieved Wood, who by then was in Singapore on his way home to Glasgow, contemplating how he could go on without his beloved pipes.
‘They were made in 1920 and I know they were used during World War II. They could never be replaced.’
Scott Wood
“I could hardly believe it,” said Wood.
“I am absolutely delighted. I’ve owned these pipes for 15 years. They were made in 1920 and I know they were used during World War II. They could never be replaced.”
Shortly after, a man walked into a shop in Carlton carrying a Fender Telecaster guitar, wanting it valued. The shopkeeper, who asked that neither he nor his shop be identified, said he had learned by email to be on the lookout for possibly stolen musical instruments. He phoned the police. By then, the man had left, still carrying the guitar.
“We can’t detain anyone,” said the shopkeeper.
Celtic rock bagpiper Scott Wood, of Glasgow, at full tilt with his treasured pipes at the Port Fairy Folk Festival.Credit: Jason Dargan Photography
The discovery of the dumped bagpipes ended a search that had gathered intense interest this week in Scottish newspapers and on the internet everywhere.
The bagpipes were in one of three vehicles that had been transporting the band around sold-out Australian venues for the past three weeks.
Skerryvore, three-time winners of Scotland’s Live Act of the Year award, appeared as the headline act at the Celtic Festival in Melbourne’s Docklands on Monday – the band’s last engagement before flying home to Scotland.
Band members stowed some of their gear in a car they left locked overnight in a high-level security car park in Siddeley Street, Docklands, near their hotel.
They were shocked to discover that thieves had broken a window and removed the bagpipes, a valuable Sunburst Fender Telecaster guitar, a laptop that had been used to record their Australian tour, and camera equipment.
In a post on Instagram on Tuesday, the band said: “An absolutely revolting end to what has been an incredible tour of Australia! Bagpipes, guitar, laptop, camera and more … stolen from car in the city this morning. If any Melbourne pawn shops get offered a set of pipes or a USA Sunburst Fender Telecaster … or anyone spots them popping up online … please get in touch!!”
The post went viral.
“I’m really thankful so many people were on the look-out because of the internet and the radio station and the news media,” said Wood. “The power of journalism got my pipes back.”
Skerryvore’s eight members, who play accordion, bagpipes, whistle, fiddle, guitar, bass and drums, were a major hit at both the recent Port Fairy Folk Festival and at Cobargo Folk Festival in NSW.
The band had recently appeared at sold-out concerts at the Brunswick Ballroom and Birregurra Hall after touring from Sydney to Adelaide.
Melbourne friends of the Scottish band were arranging to meet up with the man Wood knows only as “Tony the workie”. “Tony the workie’s owed a few drinks,” he said.
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