The last bell

THE choice of 'Eye of the Tiger', the theme from the movie Rocky III, would seem like an odd selection at a funeral, but for Garry Miller's farewell at Bungendore this week it was the perfect fit.

He's the latest in what's literally a dying breed of boxing tent showmen to face the final bell.

"The best you can hope for is to go with people thinking you're a pretty good bloke," said Elwin Bell, the third-generation patriarch of the famous Bell show family.

The Bells are based in Queanbeyan but spend much of the year on the road.

Garry Miller was certainly one of those good blokes.

He spent more than two decades as a travelling showman working for Elwin in towns big and small from Batemans Bay to Broome.

"Everyone on the showground knew and respected Garry, he always did his job, you could rely on him to do it well," said Elwin.

The 'carny worker' character is much parodied in popular culture, but in the bush the old showman is much-loved and is part of the rich fabric and tradition of country life.

Garry Miller's was a tough life, but he'd be the first to say: a fortunate one.

A child of the Stolen Generation, he was born in Tamworth in 1950.

He was bounced around homes from the age of three until at 14 he was given ten pounds and sent on his way to do the best he could in a world he didn't know.

With a mate from the boy's home, Bronco Little, he made his way back to Tamworth where, as luck would have it, the local show was on.

The showmen were always prepared to give anyone a fair go, providing they were willing to work, and Garry was always willing.

Garry earned his stripes working the dodgem track for the Ghuradelli family before grabbing his chance to fight for a place with Les McNabb's boxing tent.

He found his home in the 'square ring' and first discovered what it felt like to have a family when he joined the famous travelling boxing troupe run by Selby Moore.

Garry travelled Australia fighting all comers at the popular troupe events and sometimes backed up the same night with a biff behind the pub to prove his credentials.

He fought in tiny towns in outback Queensland and the Northern Territory and in front of thousands at Festival Hall in Brisbane and Melbourne.

"Garry was one of the best tent fighters we've ever had," said close mate Allan Moore, a relative of showman Selby Moore.

"When it came to a fair dinkum bout he sent many to the canvas for a nap and a headache."

In another life he could have been a national champion, a title winner or a prize fighter, but Garry's life was for and of the road.

"I tried to look after Garry and he always looked after me, always, he wanted to look after everyone," said the colourfully named Curley KO, another boxing tent character.

In red dust covered trailers, Curley and Garry straightened each other's busted and bloodied noses and broken knuckles with the help of liquid painkillers in spirit form or four-X cans.

They were hard men in the hardest of lives.

Decades on the road couldn't prepare Garry for his toughest challenge: meeting and (eventually) marrying Nita Karatiana, the twin sister of Elwin Bell and a formidable and respected queen of the show circuit.

Garry met Nita at Darwin and they spent the next 25 years together.

Nita would issue the orders, Garry would occasionally sneak to his secret four-X stash in the coolroom truck for some solace.

Their fights were famous on the showground but the love that underpinned their relationship was never in doubt and obvious to all.

The hard life eventually caught up with Garry.

Perhaps the legacy of the drink and smokes, or perhaps bad luck, Garry was diagnosed with advanced, inoperable lung cancer in 2012.

Doctors gave him a few months to live but despite the odds, and the difficult treatment, he worked his way back towards something resembling good health.

Garry was able to return to the life he loved, with Nita on the show until he fell seriously ill in the regional Queensland town of Roma.

He never complained, but Garry was in considerable pain and struggled to eat.

Nita threatened that if he didn't start to eat they'd be "going back home to Bungendore", Garry replied "only in a box!".

He was right.

Garry died 12 months to the day from when he was diagnosed with cancer.

Nita said she lost her lover and her best mate but she wouldn't want him back because she couldn't see him suffer.

Garry had been looking forward to fishing and sharing a yarn with his mates at Peppimenarti, a tiny Aboriginal community in the Daly River region of the N.T.

It was a place where he was at peace.

Garry loved fishing and would be well satisfied that his last fish was a whopping Murray Cod, caught with a lump of cheddar cheese as bait on the Lachlan River near Forbes.

Nita and Elwin and their families will return to the show circuit in Queensland later this week, their next stop is Emerald.

The showground will be a little quieter without Garry, but for Elwin and Nita, it will never be the same.

Garry Noel Mellon (always known as Garry Miller), died aged 63, he was laid to rest in Bungendore, NSW on May 15, 2013.