4 May 1997

The 'Beast' stays tuned through public libraries

Australia was a great place to travel around, because its public libraries allowed you stay in touch with the world, a former lead actor in 'Beauty and the Beast' said today.

"It's great! You can just go to a library and, bingo, receive and send email throughout Australia and the world," John Watson, a 30-year-old actor/singer of Toronto, Canada, said.

"And the librarians have been unbelievably helpful.

"In Australia, anyone rich or poor can receive and send email through public libraries, at no cost."

Watson is touring Australia with his wife, actress Jane Watson, after completing a season in Beauty and the Beast in Toronto during he which he played the lead role.

His comments came during Australian Library Week (ALW), which runs from Sunday 4 May to Saturday 10 May and has a theme of Libraries - a web of information.

"I wish we'd clicked on to the public library e-mail access thing earlier," he said.

"In Sydney, we used an internet cafe, where we had to pay.

"But then we discovered public libraries in St Kilda in Melbourne and Tusmore in Adelaide.

"St Kilda's set up was brilliant. They had four Internet access computers available between 10am and 8pm, and you could book an hour's session in advance.

"We just got library cards, and away we went, communicating with the world.

"In Toronto, you would have to produce a local car licence or gas bill to prove you were entitled to use the library, but that's been no problem in Australia."

Watson said the Burnside Public Library in Tusmore, Adelaide, was also first class... but their time there had coincided with children's school holidays, so the computers were in constant demand for web surfing and CD-ROM access.

"Still, we managed to get on long enough to receive our latest e-mails and reply.

"Provided you're using a Web-based email access system, like Hotmail which we use, in Australia anyone can keep in touch by e-mail and also tap into the world's information base."

Watson said other round-Australia travellers had told him you could even access the 'net at remote Coober Pedy, but the library there was closed on the Sunday they passed through.

"We're planning to try out the public library system in Darwin, Cairns and Townsville before we head south to Brisbane to find some work to replenish our travel budget," he said.

Watson, who has earned a living continuously in the theatre for the past eight years in Canada, has dual Australian-Canadian citizenship and so can legally work on stage here.

Born in Sydney, he lived and went to school in Parramatta until he was seven, when the family moved to Canada.

He is taking a six-month break from the theatre to catch up on friends in Australia, introduce his Canadian-born wife to his place of birth and see parts of the country that many Australians who have lived here all their lives have not visited.