General News
15 May, 2026
Stewart strikes gold in Adelaide
Horsham’s Michael Stewart has turned a revived passion for solo bagpiping into interstate success, winning gold at a South Australian competition after returning to the circuit in earnest.
The Horsham City Pipe Band pipe major won C Grade Gold at the R U Brown Piobaireachd Society of South Australia.
The success follows a 2024 decision to return to solo competition after years away.
The spark came in Adelaide in 2024, when Mr Stewart drove five hours to watch a former schoolmate compete - and realised he should be on the stage too.
“I just thought, 'What am I doing here? I've driven five hours to listen, but I could be playing as well’,” he said.
“That was my moment, I'm gonna get back into solos.”
Mr Stewart took up the bagpipes in year seven, after several years of piano lessons and grade-four competition experience.
“It came to me reasonably easily. I mean, certain bits were obviously a challenge, but I enjoyed it, so I just never let go of it.
“At about year 10, I started tutoring from the local adult band (Hawthorn Pipe Band).
“I joined the band when I left school and played with them for nine years.”
Seeking a change, Mr Stewart enrolled in a landcare conservation land management course, choosing Horsham in part because it had a pipe band.
“I still want to play bagpipes, but I was feeling a little bit burnt out,” he recalled.
“That's just on 21 years ago. I think really taking a fairly more personal, enjoyable, social aspect of pipe band helped.”
With renewed appreciation, Mr Stewart joined the Horsham City Pipe Band and became the pipe major about 17 years ago.
The former schoolmate he travelled to see is now a music teacher and high-level solo competitor who once trained under the same tutor as Mr Stewart.
“Johnno and I were taught by the same person,” he recalled.
“In fact, he was the first person to beat our tutor in solos.”
After that Adelaide trip, Mr Stewart set his sights on the nearest competition, at Camperdown, and began studying how modern events were run.
“They played Piobaireachd, which is classical music in bagpipes,” he said.
“So I taught myself how to play. I wasn't particularly successful with my first couple of comps, but I enjoyed it.”
He ramped up his return in 2025, competing at every event that season and making several trips across Victoria and interstate.
“I won my Piobaireachd in Adelaide, which was really rewarding for the amount of effort,” he said.
“I've just been really focusing on addressing any bad habits and then passing that learning to everyone in Horsham, which is really great.
“Being an active performer, I can also share points of frustration with the people I'm teaching.”
With a rich Scottish heritage in the Wimmera, Mr Stewart said people wanting to learn the bagpipes or drums are most welcome to come along.
He said the learning curve for any instrument is different for everyone, but the best thing to do is to start.
“It will take, on average, a year before you're playing bagpipes,” Mr Stewart said.
“As you progress, your development and capability increase. It's like a log scale rather than a linear scale.
“The more you get under your belt, the faster it is to move forward.”
The pipe major said, like all vocations, it’s all about balance and maintaining the joy.
“I just really enjoy it at the moment,” he said.
“Now that I'm going back into competition, I'm exploring greater depth in music I've been playing for 30 years.
“There's an amazing depth in that of expression and tunes and different styles.”