"Thank God, I was not that successful, and have to keep working. "Paul never spoke to me about it (suicide)," she says. Cummings feels there is a disconnect between media images and reality that confuses rock stars as well as their fans. Hester was aware of his moods and the treatment available, as well as good ways to live. I didn't know how to tell them my heart wasn't in it.". You talk about your childhood. Maybe it is that, as Jeff Kennett suggests, creative people and artists suffer a disproportionate amount of depression. So why did he walk into Elsternwick Park a week ago and hang himself? I thought you guys may be interested in the article I read on ninemsn this morning: Local resident Pam, whose house backs on to the park, is convinced Hester had not spent long beneath the tree. On 26 March 2005, aged 46, Hester committed suicide by hanging himself in Elsternwick Park near his home. There are only three of us" - drank it in without getting drunk. American poet Anne Sexton felt "creative people must not avoid the pain they get dealt". When he was eight, he wrote in his diary that he wanted to be a famous drummer, but added that he did not want to get into trouble with the police. "These are central issues in literature, for writers like Camus." Nineteenth-century neuroscientist George Gray thought it was a gradual "unlearning of optimism". News reports today suggest Hester suffered from depression and had been seeing a therapist for the last 8 years. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Just ensure the councellors are professionals and fully qualified to do that job because if they are not, they can do more damage than good, that point I cannot express enough. But by the time the band was big, and touring was a chore, Hester was in trouble. As the shock turned to anger ("How could he do such a thing? Boom!!! I have just received the following email from the Port Phillip Council: I would like to advise you that on Monday 24 October 2005, at the Ordinary Council Meeting, Port Phillip Council resolved to "name the footpath between Glenhuntly Road and Wave Street on the eastern side of the Elwood canal reserve 'Paul Hester Walk'...". "He made others feel it and if he had not been able to, no one would give a shit.". Access to this requires a premium membership. ", Was this one of the factors, perhaps? Far be it from me, a self proclaimed daredevil, to call Hester a coward, but history will tell you he didn’t take the leap of champions.. No! When he died in 2005 I felt like I had lost a friend. It is an enigma as to why some people kill themselves. Australian writer Lawrie Zion, who was in the US when Hester finally quit Crowded House in 1994, has written of his friend's state. No one knows what was going on in Paul Hester's mind when he took his life last weekend. He believes it is "extremely complex" and can't be reduced to a simple formula. All money goes into the running and improvement of this forum, from 1998 when it started through the future. "It was there and I was very much responsible for it . This sounds like a really perfect memorial. Cancel any time to not be charged again. Paul could be really moody, really closed up and closed off. Last week, as the world wrestled with Hester's death, Conway agreed with fellow musician Stephen Cummings that their friend evoked comedian Tony Hancock, who killed himself in Sydney in 1968. ", Seymour was not the only one with concerns. He refers to recent research suggesting that the more toxic strains of cannabis now being grown hydroponically can be a predictor for psychotic illness, even suicide, among teenagers. That's great news! R.I.P Paulo, still think of you and your loved ones often. "It was a guys' thing," Cummings says. So you can imagine my anger when they named the area “Paul Hester Walk”, instead of naming it after me!! "The blackness was a huge factor for the boys to overcome," Hester told Wilmoth. You are by far one of the most insensitive people ever…how dare you speak about Paul that way, you should be so ashamed of yourself you heartless bastard, Emily said this on April 7, 2009 at 9:01 am | Reply. Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following. Maybe when I’m in my 50’s I can seize control and arbitrarily name it after one of my generation’s losers. Jeff Kennett, chairman of the national depression awareness organisation beyondblue, says that Hester's death highlights the need to help sufferers: "Paul's tragic death falls clearly into the category where he had everything to live for yet, internally, he was just bleeding. It sounds like it is going to be really fitting. Hester swam and sang, and played golf, as well as the fool, and seemed to have survived rock'n'roll with his bank account, and the best years of his life, relatively intact. Thankyou Mystik, especially for the addy. "We were like kids, it was wonderful." As Bourke records, he got close to the founder of '60s band the Byrds, Roger McGuinn, describing him as a "clean-living dude who ate almonds and enjoyed playing and travelling with his wife". Hester did not feel he could make Clifforth's recent 50th birthday. Hester discussed depression and its causes and treatment with close friend John Clifforth. Sure it would've been a great honor, for those he left behind anyway - but sounds rather pompous, not as down to earth as he truly was. Did I miss an announcement? ( Log Out /  He told Bourke: "It strung me up, the day before I left, I'd be in depression." " Hester became paranoid about touring. He was 46. Conway shrugs: "You never know. I was reading that thinking oh I'll have to find an email addy and ask others to post to it to. Conway shrugs: "You never know. No research, however, has been done on adults, and McGorry thinks mid-life crisis is a risk factor for suicide, particularly for men aged in their 40s and 50s. He looked at consumerism and wondered how to make it more genuine. Hessie would love it I'm sure! I had written to the Port Philip authorities within the deadline (that was Aug 1, I think), and the council was supposed to vote on the idea in the subsequent weeks. "We talked about it," the friend says. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content. Friends say he had taken anti-depressants for a time and found them useful, and had had lengthy periods of psychotherapy. Conway says Hester had a wonderful sense of the absurd and could handle fame, which seems true, but it is remarkable how many of his close friends liken him to entertainment giants who died prematurely. But, lets see him try and earn the title for the canal’s boutique walkway name by jumping it.. What this spectacle shows me is how the baby boomers currently control things. Philosopher Spinoza felt that sadness recoils from desire, and it is desire (for life) that is the real anti-depressant. Well, right now, I'm not sure what extra perks we can offer. Not smoking dope is a protective measure against mental breakdown, the studies find. THE GUY WHO BRAVELY JUMPED THE CANAL IN A SINGLE LEAP…. This was when he could already play drums and entertain with his antics. "It is an age of grand gestures," he says. Lets take the Paul Hester Walk! Some being more susceptible and more severe than others. McGorry says intervention does work for adolescents making the transition to adulthood. As far back as 1989, he could admire a distinctly non-rock'n'roll lifestyle. When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Just received this from the Mayor of Bayside. It helped me work a few things out," he told Bourke. The only time councils move fast is if you don't pay your rates. He had no concept of Crowded House, hadn't really heard of us . OK Ashy1296, once the official sign goes up, let's creep out in the middle of the night and rename it!! He was drifting. The tearaway grin that fell from his face wasn't showbiz, but a handshake into the heart of the crowd. But while most scientists have turned away from notions such as soul-loss to describe the numbness that comes with depression, British biologist Dr Lewis Wolpert thinks it is a useful term. People began to ask what was wrong with him. having justcome out of a dark place that constantly grabs at me to bring me down again i agree totally with mystics words,i to felt ashamed and weak at being ill,so ill i tried on many occassions to 2 end it but always woke up,so i thought maybe i have a guardian angel watchung over me.and i did. ( Log Out /  elsternwick park paul hester The album spawned two Top Ten hits, "Don't Dream, It's Over" and "Something So Strong," and ended up peaking on the After years behind the kit and just as Crowded House was about to launch a major American jaunt, Hester left … You can also PayPal any amount to webmaster@frenz.com. This was about the time Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain killed himself, an event that, Bourke says, disturbed Hester. Paul Hester, the drummer for popular Australian rockers Crowded House, committed suicide Saturday. "We can't live if we are completely impervious to sadness," he has said. All I wish now was that we could see the ARIA tribute in the UK. Real social and emotional factors are involved. So little for something SO cool that we're always improving. How many people who have left messages here in the past few days had to really think about what they wanted to say or retyped their entry more than once before posting? Jeezuz! Yep it looks like the Walk will be the thing, the council basically voted on it the other night, it takes a few more weeks for it to be official. ", Chris Bourke's book Crowded House: Something So Strong has many references to cannabis-smoking. Many thanks for your support these 14+ years of this discussion forum! Thank you Zed and Suzanne. In his book, Bourke says that, at times, Hester and Seymour found it difficult to pay their mortgages. Hester, a father of two young girls, hanged himself on Saturday from a gnarled melaleuca tree, metres from a children's playground in Elsternwick Park, Brighton, Melbourne. More recently, Hester Street in Hester's girlfriend at the time of his death was New Zealand-based singer Kashan Vincent. Elsternwick Park Nature Reserve Masterplan 2020. I help a lot of people that are grieveing/depressed, for many different reasons, and at times like this we don't tend to think clearly. Four years earlier he had split from Mardi Sommerfeld. As Paul once said about his therapy, people spend good money on fixing their cars so why not their brains? One close friend, referring to the years of therapy Hester went through, says: "It is very personal stuff. Bourke quotes bassist Seymour: "I thought he'd gone mad. I'm not sure about the public naming ceremony? All donations are appreciated! ", While Hester was undoubtedly suffering, he was not unaware of treatment. "It was an amazing capacity and he really enjoyed it," he says.