Episode 12
Emerging from the Cave: Over the Sand Dunes
In each episode of Series 5 you will hear the words and music of Maggie Bell, who experienced sexual, physical and emotional abuse by her brother for 17 years, from the ages of 5 to 22 years.
Sibling abuse is an often neglected aspect of incest and, like all forms of intrafamilial abuse, it carries longlasting impact on the victim-survivors. For Maggie, the prolonged severe abuse she endured resulted in Dissociative Identity Disorder or D.I.D., in which different memories, reactions and feelings were isolated into separate parts of her personality.
To hear more about DID please listen to Episode 1 and for more about Maggie’s story please listen to Episode 2. During the long years of her abuse Maggie used music as a way to escape her trauma as well as to express herself when words were not allowed.
All of the pieces you will hear in this series have been created by Maggie as part of an exploration of living with D.I.D, with different parts or groups of parts composing each piece as a way of explaining the experiences or feelings they hold. Dr Jan Ewing.
Producer: Zoe Carides, Narrator: Murray Cook, Producer: Dr Jan Ewing & CorriLee Foundation's Jess Brain
Murray Cook | Musician, former school teacher and the original Red Wiggle
Murray Cook was born in Cowra in rural NSW and spent most his teens in Orange NSW where, after discovering Beatles, he developed a passion for music and performance that has been a huge part of his life. He pestered his parents to buy him a guitar at age 11 and from that time on became obsessed. He played with various groups of like-minded friends in new wave bands, The Transistor and Finger Guns, in the heyday of the Sydney pub scene of the 80s. This apprenticeship served him well in his later career.
At the end of the 80s, after deciding that music was not going to earn him a living, he studied early childhood education at the Institute of Early Childhood at Macquarie University. He met the future members of The Wiggles and after a brief time teaching he and the other Wiggles recorded an album and hit the road. The Wiggles became a huge success both in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US. They produced many TV series for the ABC and a feature film in 1997. They have won many ARIA awards in the Childrens’ category and recently won best live act for their OG Wiggles tour playing to their now grown original audience. They are also members of the ARIA Hall of Fame, were awarded the Order of Australia and have honorary doctorates from Macquarie University. Murray retired from touring and performing with The Wiggles in 2012 but still occasionally joins the current line up on stage as well as tours and performances with the OG Wiggles.
Since 2012 he has pursued many and varied projects. He was guitarist with Inner West stalwart John Kennedy’s band for ten years, appearing on five albums. For the last nine years he has been writing and performing with his music partner Lizzie Mack, recording five albums to date with their band, The Soul Movers They perform extensively around Australia and are festival favourites at events such as Splendour, Nannup, Thredbo Blues Festival, Newtown Festival and St Kilda Blues Festival