MISSING BEE GEE found living in Brisbane!

This boy from the bush joined one of the biggest bands in the world

It's been 56 years, but for Colin Petersen it still seems like yesterday that he landed the gig of a lifetime as a drummer with the Bee Gees at age 21, after he attended the Humpybong State School in Brisbane with the Gibb brothers.

In a bizarre twist of fate, it was Colin's breakout role as a lovable scallywag in the now iconic Aussie movie Smiley that prompted British-born Maurice Gibb to ask his parents to move to Australia, which they did in 1958 - it was the first of Colin's many connections with the Gibb family.

Colin, now 77, was just nine when he hit the big time with Smiley, which became a worldwide hit. "It was 1955, my mother Edna had seen a story in a Queensland newspaper about acclaimed British director Anthony Kimmins looking for a knockabout Aussie boy with a nice smile to star in a movie.

"Mum was almost psychic. She got excited and could 'see' me in the role. So, I got me into my Sunday best, Brylcreemed my hair, and off to the Brisbane audition we go," recalls Kingaroy-born Colin, who took tap dancing lessons at four and was playing in jazz bands as a school kid.

"There were hundreds of boys hoping to land the role of Smiley Greevins. I was rejected as I wasn't the right look.

"So I went home, changed out of my suit and went to play marbles with my friends under my grandmother's house."

HITTING THE BIG TIME

Still fascinated, Colin went back to the audition, curious to see how it was going.