Sam always had the uncanny

Sam always had the uncanny ability to put things into a different perspective: physically through his size yet gentleness, practically through his way of simplifying apparently complex problems, artistically through his patience and creativity, and socially through always seeming to be there.

An enduring memory was sharing a sinking Wobbegong canoe with Sam in big water on the Murrumbidgee. All I could hear from Sam was ‘Keep going, keep going’ as we sank lower and lower, and then wild laughter as we finally floated clear and the boat disappeared beneath us.

Nick Cave’s expression of grief keeps coming back to me: ‘We are here, and you are where you are now.’