A Swag of Aussie Poetry
Encyclopedia
A Swag of Aussie Poetry is a mid-1980s recording project with celebrity voices reciting or singing Australian poetry.
The compilation of 53 of works of prose and verse from writers across Australia’s expansive literary landscape was originally known as Out of the Bluegums – 150 Years of Australian Verse.
It features 31 narrators delivering an eclectic mix of folk ballads and bush poetry from the 1800s through to 20th century prose and lyrical songs reflecting on life in the Great Southern Land
. It was digitally re-mastered and re-released as a 2CD set on the Lifestyle Music label in January 2011
(Giancarlo Salvestrin) wanted to add a deeper cultural component to the catalogue of Australian artists he was recording and compiling for various labels including his own.
He approached J&B Records with the Out of the Bluegums poetry compilation
idea and they gave him the commitment he needed to proceed and to commission Charles ‘Pro’ Hart, the father of the Australian outback painting movement, to produce a painting for the cover.
However the logistics of sorting through the huge body of work, deciding which poets to include and which of Australia most esteemed voices would be best to narrate those works was a daunting task.
He approached his friend and long time Australian women’s magazine editor and media personality Ita Buttrose
who offered to help by contacting many of the potential narrators Pierson had on his short list including actors, musicians, sportspeople, entertainers, opera singers and a gold medal Olympic swimmer.
After four years of setting up the recording project Pierson was still negotiating to get various celebrities into Roy Nicholson's small studio in Redfern to record the poems they’d agreed to voice.
“I remember transporting John Meillon
, a stubby of beer in hand, from his favourite watering hole, The Oaks Hotel at Neutral Bay, where he had become so much of a fixture they’d named a bar after him,” recalls Pierson.
He ferried Peter Allen
into the studio for his sessions en route from Sydney’s Mascot Airport to Double Bay to see his specialist, Sir Robert Helpmann was picked up from his Oxford St Club “at some ungodly hour of the night” and Eddie Charlton
was corned during a snooker game at the Tattersall’s club.
When it came time to record Spike Milligan, Pierson recalls he had everyone in fits when instead of entering the recording booth he walked in to the toilet and began reciting.
Other celebrity guests who put their voices to some of Australia’s best loved poems were painter and comedian Rolf Harris
, Charles Perkins the acclaimed footballer, anti-apartheid activist and the first Aboriginal to graduate from an Australian university. Soprano Dame Joan Sutherland and novelist and playwright Thomas Keneally
also bought their talents to the task.
Other contributors included women’s magazine editor Ita Buttrose, TV host Bert Newton
, actor Barry Humphries
, Methodist minister, columnist and radio talkback host Rev Roger Bush
, concert and circus promoter Michael Edgley, film and theatre actress and author Diane Cilento
and Olympic swimming gold medalist Dawn Fraser
. journalist and TV presenter Terry Willesee
and singer and comedienne Dawn Lake
also voiced poems.
Unfortunately says Pierson, many of those names known and loved by people across Australia are no longer with us. “The fact this compilation has been re-mastered 25 years after they made their contributions means this is not only a memorial to our great poets but to those people who bought their words alive again for listeners in the 21st century.”
" shared around the campfire in early colonial days to uplifting prose
designed to inspire a sense of place or national pride and more modernist, satirical and even humourist approaches to the craft.
One of the poets included is Andrew Barton Paterson (Banjo Paterson
) who worked as a solicitor in a lawyer’s office and frequently contributed verse to the Bulletin
under the pen-name “Banjo”. He wrote novels and short stories and was responsible for the famous Waltzing Matilda
. His poems The Man From Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow
are among the most revered bush poems of his era.
Another pioneering bush poet was balladeer Henry Lawson
, born in the gold fields in the late 1860s and because of his evocative verse is today considered Australia's poet of the people. Lawson and Paterson often engaged in lively debate in the pages of the Bulletin about life in Australia.
Dorothea Mackellar
, who rose to prominence in the early years of the 20th century was also considered a bush poet with memorable works including My Country
and had four volumes of her collected works of poetry published along with three novels.
Other poets who helped forge or reflect a sense of Australian identity and feature in A Swag of Aussie Poetry include Kenneth Slessor
, a journalist and war correspondent who is credited with bringing an element of modernism into Australian poetry, and Les Murray
, a literary critic saw his work as helping to define what it means to be Australian.
Teacher and writer Dame Mary Gilmore
and the poet, essayist and satirist A. D. Hope
also feature alongside Judith Wright
, who concerned herself with national and social issues, publishing more than 50 books during her life even joining the march on Canberra for Aboriginal rights just before her death at the age of 85-years.
For good measure producer and CD compiler Gene Pierson has included in the mix, modern songwriters who’s lyrics are evocative of the Australian spirit. Among them is Peter Allen
reading I Still Call Australia Home
, Judy Stone
with a version of Henry Kendall’s Bellbird, Smoky Dawson
with Paterson’s tribute to Ned Kelly
, The Wild Colonial Boy
and Until Your Home Again from Peter Lawson
.
There also an odious ode from Dame Edna Everidge and a smattering of comedic verse written and narrated by the iconic wit Spike Milligan
.
, Mary Durack
-Miller, Norman Lindsay
, Vivian Smith
, David Campbell
, Henry Lawson, James McAuley
, Rhyll McMaster
, A.B. (Banjo) Paterson, R.D. Fitzgerald, Peter Lawson
, Kenneth Slessor, John Blight
, Dorothea Mackellar, Victor Daley
, Ray Mathew
, Kath Walker, Kenneth Mackenzie, Alwyn Lee, Alisha Salvestrin, Ron Jones
, Peter Allen, Charles Perkins and Dame Edna Everage
, John Meillon, Bert Newton, Dame Edna Everage, Rolf Harris, Sir Robert Helpmann, Ita Buttrose, Peter Allen, Thomas Keneally, John Newcombe
, Judy Stone, Smoky Dawson, Terry Willesee, John Waters
, Dawn Lake, Judy Morris
, Diane Cilento, Simon Townsend
, Eddie Charlton, Charles Perkins, Dawn Fraser, Rowena Wallace
, Michael Edgley, Peter Lawson, Ron Haddrick
, Rev. Roger Bush and Alisha Salvestrin.
Poem, writer, narrator
1. The Convict and the Lady (James McAuley) – Ron Haddrick
2. Trees (Dorothea Mackellar) – Dawn Lake
3. Ben Hartigan (Mary Durack-Miller) – Rolf Harris
4. Profiles Of My Father (Rhyll McMaster) – Diane Cilento
5. Waratah & Wattle (Henry Lawson) – Sir Robert Helpmann
6. Candles (Nan McDonald) – Judy Morris
7. The Silkworms (Douglas Stewart) – John Meillon
8. Windy Gap (David Campbell) – Eddie Charlton
9. My Wife’s Second Husband (Henry Lawson) – Peter Lawson
10. Heritage (Mary Gilmore) – Bobby Limb
11. No More Boomerang – Charles Perkins
12. Friendship & Love (Kenneth MacKenzie) – Ita Buttrose
13. I Still Call Australia Home – Peter Allen
14. Nationality (Mary Gilmore) – Dame Joan Sutherland
15. Separation (Henry Lawson) – Rev Roger Bush
16. The Company of Lovers (Judith Wright) – Rowena Wallace
17. An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow (Les Murray) – Thomas Keneally
18. Bellbirds (Henry Kendall) – Judy Stone
19. The Man From Snowy River (A.B. (Banjo) Patterson) – John Newcombe
20. The Wild Colonial Boy (A.B. (Banjo) Patterson) – Smoky Dawson
21. Our Love is so Natural (Judith Wright) – Dawn Fraser
22. Magic Pudding (Norman Lindsay) – Simon Townsend
23. Family Album (Vivian Smith) – Judy Morris
24. Letter From Garella Bay (R.F. Brissenden) – John Meillon
25. Orchid In My Glass/A Poem for the Lonely/Wasp/Woodworm – Spike Milligan
26. The Chocolate Soldiers – Ron Jones
CD 2
1. The Last of His Tribe (Henry Kendall) – John Waters
2. A Round Song (Rhyll McMaster) – Diane Cilento
3. Said Hanrahan (P.J. Hartigan - John O’Brien) – Terry Willesee
4. Nurse No Long Grief (Mary Gilmore) – Dame Joan Sutherland
5. Nine Miles From Gundagai (Jack Moses) – Bobby Limb
6. Death of a Whale (John Blight) – Simon Townsend
7. My Country (Dorothea Mackellar) – Bert Newton
8. Dreams (Victor Daley) – Dawn Lake
9. Young Man’s Fancy (Ray Mathew) – Eddie Charlton
10. The Dispossessed (Kath Walker) – Charles Perkins
11. Imperial Adam (A.D. Hope) – Thomas Keneally
12. Love Me and Never Leave Me (Ronald McCuaig) – Ita Buttrose
13. Eve (Kate Llewellyn) – Ita Buttrose
14. Country Towns (Kenneth Slessor) – Smoky Dawson
15. The Southern Cross (Alwyn Lee) – Barry Humphries
16. Edna’s Ode To Silver – Dame Edna Everage
17. Beach Burial (Kenneth Slessor) – John Waters
18. An Aboriginal Smile (Mary Gilmore) – Dawn Fraser
19. Johnny Walker (Mary Durack-Miller) – Rolf Harris
20. We Are Going (Kath Walker) – Rowena Wallace
21. Clancy Of The Overflow (A.B. (Banjo) Patterson) – Michael Edgley
22. Woman To Man (Judith Wright) – Judy Morris
23. This Night’s Orbit (R.D. Fitzgerald) – Dame Joan Sutherland
24. Until Your Home Again – Peter Lawson
25. Polarities (Kenneth Slessor) – Ron Haddrick
26. A Prayer For The Nuclear Age (Les Murray) – Rev. Roger Bush
27. The Way I See The World – Alisha Salvestrin
The compilation of 53 of works of prose and verse from writers across Australia’s expansive literary landscape was originally known as Out of the Bluegums – 150 Years of Australian Verse.
It features 31 narrators delivering an eclectic mix of folk ballads and bush poetry from the 1800s through to 20th century prose and lyrical songs reflecting on life in the Great Southern Land
Great Southern Land
"Great Southern Land" is a single released by Australian rock band Icehouse. It was released in August 1982, before the album Primitive Man. Peaking at number five on the Australian Singles Chart, it was later featured in the 1988 Yahoo Serious film Young Einstein, and remains their most popular...
. It was digitally re-mastered and re-released as a 2CD set on the Lifestyle Music label in January 2011
History / production
A Swag of Aussie Poetry had its genesis in 1980 when producer Gene PiersonGene Pierson
Gene Pierson is an Australian record producer, music publisher, label owner, entrepreneur and former recording artist and entertainment manager....
(Giancarlo Salvestrin) wanted to add a deeper cultural component to the catalogue of Australian artists he was recording and compiling for various labels including his own.
He approached J&B Records with the Out of the Bluegums poetry compilation
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
idea and they gave him the commitment he needed to proceed and to commission Charles ‘Pro’ Hart, the father of the Australian outback painting movement, to produce a painting for the cover.
However the logistics of sorting through the huge body of work, deciding which poets to include and which of Australia most esteemed voices would be best to narrate those works was a daunting task.
He approached his friend and long time Australian women’s magazine editor and media personality Ita Buttrose
Ita Buttrose
Ita Clare Buttrose, AO, OBE is an Australian journalist and businesswoman. She was the founding editor of Cleo, a high-circulation magazine aimed at women aged 20 to 40 that was ground-breakingly frank about sexuality , and later as the editor of the more sedate Australian Women's Weekly...
who offered to help by contacting many of the potential narrators Pierson had on his short list including actors, musicians, sportspeople, entertainers, opera singers and a gold medal Olympic swimmer.
After four years of setting up the recording project Pierson was still negotiating to get various celebrities into Roy Nicholson's small studio in Redfern to record the poems they’d agreed to voice.
“I remember transporting John Meillon
John Meillon
John Meillon was an Australian actor, most widely known outside Australia for his role as Walter Reilly in the films "Crocodile" Dundee and "Crocodile" Dundee II. He also voiced Victoria Bitter beer commercials until his death.-Biography:Meillon was born in Mosman, Sydney...
, a stubby of beer in hand, from his favourite watering hole, The Oaks Hotel at Neutral Bay, where he had become so much of a fixture they’d named a bar after him,” recalls Pierson.
He ferried Peter Allen
Peter Allen
Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
into the studio for his sessions en route from Sydney’s Mascot Airport to Double Bay to see his specialist, Sir Robert Helpmann was picked up from his Oxford St Club “at some ungodly hour of the night” and Eddie Charlton
Eddie Charlton
Edward Francis Charlton AM was an Australian professional snooker and English billiards player. He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title...
was corned during a snooker game at the Tattersall’s club.
When it came time to record Spike Milligan, Pierson recalls he had everyone in fits when instead of entering the recording booth he walked in to the toilet and began reciting.
Other celebrity guests who put their voices to some of Australia’s best loved poems were painter and comedian Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
, Charles Perkins the acclaimed footballer, anti-apartheid activist and the first Aboriginal to graduate from an Australian university. Soprano Dame Joan Sutherland and novelist and playwright Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
also bought their talents to the task.
Other contributors included women’s magazine editor Ita Buttrose, TV host Bert Newton
Bert Newton
Albert Watson "Bert" Newton, AM, MBE is an Australian television personality, known for hosting television series such as In Melbourne Tonight, Good Morning Australia and 20 to 1. Newton has also hosted the Logie Awards on numerous occasions through his career.-Early life:Newton was born in...
, actor Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
, Methodist minister, columnist and radio talkback host Rev Roger Bush
Roger Bush
Reverend Roger Bush OBE was a British-born Australian Methodist minister and media personality. -Early life:Bush was born in England and his family migrated to Sydney, Australia the following year. He was the oldest of a family of four and had two brothers and a sister.-Family and BHP:He met his...
, concert and circus promoter Michael Edgley, film and theatre actress and author Diane Cilento
Diane Cilento
Diane Cilento was an Australian theatre and film actress and author.-Biography:Cilento's parents, Sir Raphael Cilento and Lady Phyllis Cilento, were both distinguished medical practitioners....
and Olympic swimming gold medalist Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser AO, MBE is an Australian champion swimmer. She is one of only two swimmers to win the same Olympic event three times – in her case the 100 meters freestyle....
. journalist and TV presenter Terry Willesee
Terry Willesee
Terry Willesee is an Australian journalist and television presenter.-Biography:Willesee is the son of Don Willesee, a long-time member of the Australian Senate and Whitlam Government minister. He is the brother of Mike Willesee, also a journalist and television presenter.-Media career:Willesee...
and singer and comedienne Dawn Lake
Dawn Lake
Dawn Lake was an Australian television comedian, singer, entertainer and actor, whose career spanned more than four decades. Bert Newton described her as "our greatest comedienne - Australia's Lucille Ball"...
also voiced poems.
Unfortunately says Pierson, many of those names known and loved by people across Australia are no longer with us. “The fact this compilation has been re-mastered 25 years after they made their contributions means this is not only a memorial to our great poets but to those people who bought their words alive again for listeners in the 21st century.”
Poets
A Swag of Aussie Poetry includes a popular selection of verse from Australian poets including rough and ready "bush poemsBush poet
Bush poets were Australian poets who wrote about Australian rural life during colonial times and about the Australian bush. Many colonial bush poets were illiterate and performed their poems from memory instead of writing them. Bush poetry evolved from the jokes and stories shared by early settlers...
" shared around the campfire in early colonial days to uplifting prose
Prose
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
designed to inspire a sense of place or national pride and more modernist, satirical and even humourist approaches to the craft.
One of the poets included is Andrew Barton Paterson (Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
) who worked as a solicitor in a lawyer’s office and frequently contributed verse to the Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
under the pen-name “Banjo”. He wrote novels and short stories and was responsible for the famous Waltzing Matilda
Waltzing Matilda
"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
. His poems The Man From Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow
Clancy of the Overflow
"Clancy of The Overflow" is a poem by Banjo Paterson, first published in The Bulletin, an Australian news magazine, on 21 December 1889. The poem is typical of Paterson, offering a romantic view of rural life, and is one of his best-known works.-History:...
are among the most revered bush poems of his era.
Another pioneering bush poet was balladeer Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
, born in the gold fields in the late 1860s and because of his evocative verse is today considered Australia's poet of the people. Lawson and Paterson often engaged in lively debate in the pages of the Bulletin about life in Australia.
Dorothea Mackellar
Dorothea Mackellar
Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar, OBE was an Australian poet and fiction writer.The only daughter of noted physician and parliamentarian Sir Charles Mackellar, she was born in Sydney in 1885...
, who rose to prominence in the early years of the 20th century was also considered a bush poet with memorable works including My Country
My Country
"My Country" is an iconic patriotic poem about Australia, written by Dorothea Mackellar at the age of 19 while homesick in England. After travelling through Europe extensively with her father during her teenage years she started writing the poem in London in 1904 and re-wrote it several times...
and had four volumes of her collected works of poetry published along with three novels.
Other poets who helped forge or reflect a sense of Australian identity and feature in A Swag of Aussie Poetry include Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Slessor
Kenneth Adolf Slessor OBE was an Australian poet and journalist. He was one of Australia's leading poets, notable particularly for the absorption of modernist influences into Australian poetry. The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is named after him.-Life:Slessor was born Kenneth Adolphe...
, a journalist and war correspondent who is credited with bringing an element of modernism into Australian poetry, and Les Murray
Les Murray (poet)
Leslie Allan Murray, AO , known as Les Murray, is an Australian poet, anthologist and critic. His career spans over forty years, and he has published nearly 30 volumes of poetry, as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings...
, a literary critic saw his work as helping to define what it means to be Australian.
Teacher and writer Dame Mary Gilmore
Mary Gilmore
Dame Mary Gilmore DBE was a prominent Australian socialist poet and journalist.-Early life:Mary Jean Cameron was born on 16 August 1865 at Cotta Walla near Goulburn, New South Wales...
and the poet, essayist and satirist A. D. Hope
A. D. Hope
Alec Derwent Hope AC OBE was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic.-Life:...
also feature alongside Judith Wright
Judith Wright
Judith Arundell Wright was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights.-Biography:...
, who concerned herself with national and social issues, publishing more than 50 books during her life even joining the march on Canberra for Aboriginal rights just before her death at the age of 85-years.
For good measure producer and CD compiler Gene Pierson has included in the mix, modern songwriters who’s lyrics are evocative of the Australian spirit. Among them is Peter Allen
Peter Allen
Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
reading I Still Call Australia Home
I Still Call Australia Home
"I Still Call Australia Home" is a song written and performed by Peter Allen in 1980. In it, Allen sings of Australian expatriates' longing for home.It has been used to suggest Australian patriotism and nostalgia for home...
, Judy Stone
Judy Stone
Judy Stone is an Australian pop singer from Sydney, who came to national prominence in the early 1960s through her regular TV appearances on the Australian pop music show Brian Henderson's Bandstand and her many hit records...
with a version of Henry Kendall’s Bellbird, Smoky Dawson
Smoky Dawson
Smoky Dawson, MBE , born Herbert Henry Dawson, was an Australian country music performer. He was widely touted as Australia's first singing cowboy.-Biography:...
with Paterson’s tribute to Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly
Edward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
, The Wild Colonial Boy
The Wild Colonial Boy
"The Wild Colonial Boy" is a traditional Irish–Australian ballad of which there are many different versions, the most prominent being the Irish and Australian versions. The original version was about Jack Donahue, an Irish rebel who became a convict, then a bushranger , who was eventually shot down...
and Until Your Home Again from Peter Lawson
Peter Lawson
Peter Lawson was an Ontario political figure. He represented Norfolk South in the 1st Canadian Parliament as a Liberal member....
.
There also an odious ode from Dame Edna Everidge and a smattering of comedic verse written and narrated by the iconic wit Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
.
List of poets and writers
Nancy (Nan) May McDonald, Douglas Stewart, Kate Llewellyn, A.D. Hope, Ronald McCuaig, R.F. Brissenden, Spike Milligan, P.J. Hartigan (John O’Brien), Dame Mary Gilmore, Jack Moses, Judith Wright, Les Murray, Henry KendallHenry Kendall (poet)
Thomas Henry Kendall was a nineteenth century Australian poet.-Biography:Kendall was born near Ulladulla, New South Wales. He was registered as Thomas Henry Kendall, but never appears to have used his first name. His three volumes of verse were all published under the name of "Henry Kendall". His...
, Mary Durack
Mary Durack
Dame Mary Durack AC DBE was an Australian author and historian. She wrote Kings in Grass Castles and Keep Him My Country.-Childhood:...
-Miller, Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay
Norman Alfred William Lindsay was an Australian artist, sculptor, writer, editorial cartoonist, scale modeler, and boxer. He was born in Creswick, Victoria....
, Vivian Smith
Vivian Smith
Vivian Brian Smith is an Australian poet. He is considered one of the most lyrical and observant Australian poets of his generation....
, David Campbell
David Campbell (poet)
David Watt Ian Campbell was an Australian poet who wrote over 15 volumes of prose and poetry.-Life:Campbell was born on 16 July 1915 at Ellerslie Station, near Adelong, New South Wales...
, Henry Lawson, James McAuley
James McAuley
James Phillip McAuley was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism.-Life and career:...
, Rhyll McMaster
Rhyll McMaster
Rhyll McMaster is a contemporary Australian poet and novelist. She has worked as a secretary, a nurse and a sheep farmer. She now lives in Sydney and has written full-time since 2000....
, A.B. (Banjo) Paterson, R.D. Fitzgerald, Peter Lawson
Peter Lawson
Peter Lawson was an Ontario political figure. He represented Norfolk South in the 1st Canadian Parliament as a Liberal member....
, Kenneth Slessor, John Blight
John Blight
John Blight was an Australian poet. The name Blight is of Cornish origin.-Biography:Born in Unley, South Australia on 30 July 1913, Blight was educated at Brisbane State High School. During the Great Depression in Australia he tramped the Queensland coast looking for work...
, Dorothea Mackellar, Victor Daley
Victor Daley
Victor James William Patrick Daley was an Australian poet.He was born at the Navan, County Armagh, Ireland, and was educated at the Christian Brothers at Devonport in England. He arrived in Australia in 1878, and became a freelance journalist and writer in both Melbourne and Sydney...
, Ray Mathew
Ray Mathew
Ray Mathew , an Australian author, was born in Sydney, NSW. Mathew wrote poetry, drama, radio plays and filmscripts, short stories, novels, arts and literature criticism, and other non-fiction...
, Kath Walker, Kenneth Mackenzie, Alwyn Lee, Alisha Salvestrin, Ron Jones
Ron Jones
Ron Jones may refer to:*Ron Jones , Doctor Who*Popeye Jones , professional basketball player*Ron Jones , Windsor, Ontario city councillor...
, Peter Allen, Charles Perkins and Dame Edna Everage
List of narrators
Barry Humphries, Spike Milligan, Dame Joan Sutherland, Bobby Limb, Ron JonesRon Jones
Ron Jones may refer to:*Ron Jones , Doctor Who*Popeye Jones , professional basketball player*Ron Jones , Windsor, Ontario city councillor...
, John Meillon, Bert Newton, Dame Edna Everage, Rolf Harris, Sir Robert Helpmann, Ita Buttrose, Peter Allen, Thomas Keneally, John Newcombe
John Newcombe
John David Newcombe, AO, OBE is a former World No. 1 tennis player.-Biography:He won seven Grand Slam singles titles, A natural athlete, Newcombe played several sports as a boy until devoting himself to tennis. He was the Australian junior champion in 1961, 1962, and 1963 and was a member of...
, Judy Stone, Smoky Dawson, Terry Willesee, John Waters
John Waters
-Entertainment:*John Waters , American film director, active 1926–29 and 1947*John Waters , American film director, writer, visual artist, actor and cult figure...
, Dawn Lake, Judy Morris
Judy Morris
Judy Morris is an Australian actress, film director and screenwriter, well known for the variety of roles she played in 54 different television shows and films, but most recently for co-writing a musical epic about the life of penguins in Antarctica which became Happy Feet, Australia's largest...
, Diane Cilento, Simon Townsend
Simon Townsend
Simon Townsend is an Australian journalist who became a popular television host during the 1980s. He is currently a tutor in journalism.-Vietnam War Conscientious Objector:...
, Eddie Charlton, Charles Perkins, Dawn Fraser, Rowena Wallace
Rowena Wallace
Rowena Wallace is a Gold -Logie winning Australian actress, best known for her role as Patricia in Sons and Daughters.-Early life and budding career:...
, Michael Edgley, Peter Lawson, Ron Haddrick
Ron Haddrick
Ronald Norman Haddrick MBE is an Australian theatre, film and voice actor.-Early life:Haddrick was born in Adelaide, Australia, the only son of Olive May and Alexander Norman Haddrick.-Cricket:...
, Rev. Roger Bush and Alisha Salvestrin.
Track listing
CD1Poem, writer, narrator
1. The Convict and the Lady (James McAuley) – Ron Haddrick
2. Trees (Dorothea Mackellar) – Dawn Lake
3. Ben Hartigan (Mary Durack-Miller) – Rolf Harris
4. Profiles Of My Father (Rhyll McMaster) – Diane Cilento
5. Waratah & Wattle (Henry Lawson) – Sir Robert Helpmann
6. Candles (Nan McDonald) – Judy Morris
7. The Silkworms (Douglas Stewart) – John Meillon
8. Windy Gap (David Campbell) – Eddie Charlton
9. My Wife’s Second Husband (Henry Lawson) – Peter Lawson
10. Heritage (Mary Gilmore) – Bobby Limb
11. No More Boomerang – Charles Perkins
12. Friendship & Love (Kenneth MacKenzie) – Ita Buttrose
13. I Still Call Australia Home – Peter Allen
14. Nationality (Mary Gilmore) – Dame Joan Sutherland
15. Separation (Henry Lawson) – Rev Roger Bush
16. The Company of Lovers (Judith Wright) – Rowena Wallace
17. An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow (Les Murray) – Thomas Keneally
18. Bellbirds (Henry Kendall) – Judy Stone
19. The Man From Snowy River (A.B. (Banjo) Patterson) – John Newcombe
20. The Wild Colonial Boy (A.B. (Banjo) Patterson) – Smoky Dawson
21. Our Love is so Natural (Judith Wright) – Dawn Fraser
22. Magic Pudding (Norman Lindsay) – Simon Townsend
23. Family Album (Vivian Smith) – Judy Morris
24. Letter From Garella Bay (R.F. Brissenden) – John Meillon
25. Orchid In My Glass/A Poem for the Lonely/Wasp/Woodworm – Spike Milligan
26. The Chocolate Soldiers – Ron Jones
CD 2
1. The Last of His Tribe (Henry Kendall) – John Waters
2. A Round Song (Rhyll McMaster) – Diane Cilento
3. Said Hanrahan (P.J. Hartigan - John O’Brien) – Terry Willesee
4. Nurse No Long Grief (Mary Gilmore) – Dame Joan Sutherland
5. Nine Miles From Gundagai (Jack Moses) – Bobby Limb
6. Death of a Whale (John Blight) – Simon Townsend
7. My Country (Dorothea Mackellar) – Bert Newton
8. Dreams (Victor Daley) – Dawn Lake
9. Young Man’s Fancy (Ray Mathew) – Eddie Charlton
10. The Dispossessed (Kath Walker) – Charles Perkins
11. Imperial Adam (A.D. Hope) – Thomas Keneally
12. Love Me and Never Leave Me (Ronald McCuaig) – Ita Buttrose
13. Eve (Kate Llewellyn) – Ita Buttrose
14. Country Towns (Kenneth Slessor) – Smoky Dawson
15. The Southern Cross (Alwyn Lee) – Barry Humphries
16. Edna’s Ode To Silver – Dame Edna Everage
17. Beach Burial (Kenneth Slessor) – John Waters
18. An Aboriginal Smile (Mary Gilmore) – Dawn Fraser
19. Johnny Walker (Mary Durack-Miller) – Rolf Harris
20. We Are Going (Kath Walker) – Rowena Wallace
21. Clancy Of The Overflow (A.B. (Banjo) Patterson) – Michael Edgley
22. Woman To Man (Judith Wright) – Judy Morris
23. This Night’s Orbit (R.D. Fitzgerald) – Dame Joan Sutherland
24. Until Your Home Again – Peter Lawson
25. Polarities (Kenneth Slessor) – Ron Haddrick
26. A Prayer For The Nuclear Age (Les Murray) – Rev. Roger Bush
27. The Way I See The World – Alisha Salvestrin