Maureen, monks and a moving tale
The Age, A3 Section
Date: Monday, 7 June 2004
Preview by Brian Courtis

It is like a touring rock show, without the roadies. Or, for that matter, the other more conventional worldly provisions of celebrity. Still, as their determined manager tells us, apparently accepting her own remarkable role with the group, "somebody has to be the bitch from hell".

Maureen Fallon, a former corporate high-flyer with Spripg Street connections, is far from that, of course, though there must be many from her past who wonder exactly what made her choose a new life organising tours around Australia for some exiled Tibetan monks.

No, says her bemused daughter, Alice, she doesn't now levitate. No, says Fallon herself, it is not all peace and contemplation. She will fight cats and dogs with her charming translator. Travelling from Cooktown to Hobart with a minibus-load of blokes doesn't always go like a prayer.

So why do it? "Sometimes you have to bring in something from outside in order for people to recognise something about themselves," she says. Contact with the Tibetans, a group of exiles from the Gyuto monastery in the remote north of India, may help Australians recognise something about their better selves.

They came into her life at a performance she attended a decade ago. Now this forceful "Australian Scottish Presbyterian Buddhist" has brought her practical skills to their mission. And when not travelling, visiting school groups, or meeting remote communities, the small group stays with Maureen Fallon at her inner-Melbourne home.

The monks, known for their chanting and meditation, visit Australia to spread the word about threatened Tibetan culture, the Dalai Lama and Buddhist thinking. Their specific goal is to build a monastery back in India.

Actor Toni Collette, at whose wedding the monks performed, introduces us to the Australian woman's extraordinary new life and friendships in tonight's edition of the ever-reliable series Australian Story (8pm, ABC). She leads us into what is an intriguing connection between two very different worlds. And as producer Brigid Donovan's film shows, life with these young Tibetans is not simply chimes, chants and prayer wheels. The monks, easy with a laugh or smile, have a fascination for Australian life, from paragliding on a beach and kicking around a football to indulging in a barbecue of far from heavenly fare.

They are a long way from Dharamasala and the Himalayas, taking in many new experiences. It's not just spiritual stress. If the show is to get on the road, it might even include a tough, warm-hearted Aussie mother telling you to not give her lip, to just do what you're told.

Visit the "Australian Story" website here: http://www.abc.net.au/austory/content/2004/s1124068.htm

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