Inverell and Delungra lost a popular, well-known identity with the death of Bill Blyth on March 20.
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Bill was a third-generation farmer, his grandfather having bought "Mimosa", one of the original Myall Creek closer settlement farms, in 1906.
Bill was born in Inverell in 1945, the middle child of Ivar and Jean Blyth. He attended the Little Plain school and later Slade School in Warwick. He rode on horseback to school with his older sister Robin, a trip of about 5km. After he left school, Bill took up farming.
He left the farm on several occasions to widen his horizons and opportunities but returned to work on the family farm. He also joined the Citizens' Military Forces for five years.
Bill's life changed dramatically in 1977 when he married opera singer, Peta Blyth and the pair travelled to London together for Peta to pursue postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music.
By then, Bill was managing the farm, his father having passed away. The farm was leased for several years and Bill turned his hand to many different jobs, the main one being the manager of a hire shop in Watford, north London.
Returning after three years to Sydney, Bill once again demonstrated his versatility when he bought a lawn mower repair shop, while Peta worked for several years with the Australian Opera. Two children later, Simon and Sophie, the family returned to the farm and ultimately renovated Bill's grandfather's cottage.
From there, the pair combined both of their expertise and talents to produce the very popular local event, Opera in the Paddock in 2002. Under the banner of Opera North West, 14 events were produced annually in March, literally in their paddock. The event became an iconic cultural event attracting audiences from across the region as well as interstate.
Bill was very proud of their achievement and happily met Peta's increasing artistic demands with the construction of a large permanent stage and the coordination of all technical and lighting aspects of the event - all this in conjunction with running a working farm.
Bill always said, "The oats have to be in before the Opera."
Bill was a keen golfer, a member of the Inverell Golf Club and also the Inverell Club. He was a devoted father to Simon and Sophie and to their spouses Kelly and Jean-Marc. Bill adored his grandchildren, Tom, Annabelle, Lily and Louis. He is also survived by older sister Robin Moore of Inverell and younger sister Sheri Samson of Tenterfield.
Bill Blyth's funeral was attended by a large crowd. It was conducted by Rev Matt Stones at St Augustine's Anglican Church Inverell, with interment at the Little Plain old cemetery.
