…These men are worth your tears:
You are not worth their merriment.

-Wilfred Owen, “Apologia Pro Poemate Meo”

When that loudmouth on the wireless machine
Alludes to Western Civilization
What does he mean? Paradise Lost? Probably not
Nor Saint Paul speaking on the Field of Mars

The Kalevala, Hagia Sophia
With its pendentives lifting up our prayers
Horatius fighting to defend his bridge
And Wilfred Owen dying bravely on his

Lord Tennyson and Idylls of the King
Chapultepec, Henry V, Becket
The paratroops at Arnhem, Saint Thomas More,
His King’s loyal servant, but God’s first

The Stray Dog poets of Saint Petersburg
The brave last stand of Roland at Roncesvalles
Lewis and Tolkien and glasses of beer
Montcalm and Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham

Hildegard von Bingen, Siegfried and the Rhine
Magna Carta, HMS Hood, the Thames
The Grove of Daphne, “The Old Rugged Cross”
Beatrix Potter and her little pet rabbit

El Cid, Anne Frank, John Keats, Saint Benedict
“I Have a Dream,” Dostoyevsky, and Greene
Viktor Frankl, Dag Hammarkskjold, and Proust
Good Chaucer’s naughty pilgrims telling tales

The Gettysburg Address, Willie and Joe
Stern Saint Augustine of North Africa
Wodehouse writing a jolly bit of fun
Saint Corbinian and Bavaria

The ancient glories of Byzantium
Pius XII contra the bombs and lies
The 602nd TD Battalion
Saint Joan, the Prado, and Robert Frost

And far, far more.

When that loudmouth on the wireless machine
Alludes to Western Civilization
What does he mean?

slumped under a tree
in the centre of the city
half-empty bottle by your side
liquid purple ticket
to the dreamtime

eyes shut
foot twitching
a smile on your round black face

lost in ancestral memories
walking the scorched red earth
of Arnhem land
escaping for a while
the hatred of the white New World

Hello and welcome to Glebe Park and there is a lot of excitement happening here to celebrate the first reconsilation day and on the main stage we had the griffin ensemble and the music they played was very calm and relaxing and there are a lot of different activities happening all over Glebe Park
Yes, the indigenous Australians will be happy but the day has only just began and about to come onto the main stage is the great dale Huddleston and he is known to be a rocker country singer and dale’s music is very good the first song is Arnhem Land dreams and the next song is an aborigine and I go walking
And dale has a great voice and has the crowd sitting there being thoroughly entertained
And he sang that with so much pride and the next song was written about a place called black fellas point and around me the crowd are walking and sitting buying food and one old man is tapping his foot, very exciting, yeah dale you know how to sing and you are a classic to play for reconciliation day here in Glebe Park
And the next song was about the simple things in life like when he wrote the song his daughter was being born and that was the happiest day of his life and he really treasured that day and now he is about to sing
Home is where the heart is which to me will mean you go off and have all these adventures but when you go home you feel love and looked after and he sings about water and listening to country music on the radio and many more exciting things but at the end of the day home is where the heart is
Dale Huddleston is now leaving the stage and he really showed us is version of aboriginal culture and he didn’t disappoint anyone in the crowd
The next singer is **** whose music represents aboriginal and Torres straight Islander rights
In this world and I can tell you he is a bit of a rapper but his music does really suit the occasion and now he is singing or rapping out the heavens opening up to create the rain coming down which he tries to get people to understand that we need to focus on being positive despite all the problems they have in the world and music especially his kind of rap does focus on the positive
They are talking about making reconsiliation an every day event not just today because if you did everyone would live in harmony with one another
The next act is the feature act named busby Marou and they are starting to sing loudly but cool as they sit up on the high seat this band is from Queensland and they are here celebrating aboriginal culture
They are showing Queensland’s great oceans and sunshine in their music which is a good thing for this wonderful day
This next song is titled full moon
And this song really explains the meaning of this day like as long as we respect that aborigines were on this land first it will be alright and after that they played a song called blue road which was written back in the early days and it has a great beat as well as a great meaning
So fantastic and if you remember the 90s when they had a song called my island home well busby marou did a version of it and I can tell you they are singing it with so much meaning saying whatever you do you must remember your island home will be waiting for you so just do whet you see fit
And each song explains whether or not you make mistakes and you could try and fix it and you fail But that doesn’t mean much because in life you can have fun
And if you play your cards right
You won’t fail as long as you don’t make anymore mistakes
The music is really moving and great and it has heaps of meaning of this day and then after that they played a classic cindy lauper hit girls just want to have fun which was dedicated to all the girls out there and each of the girls starting clapping, yes a very good version of that song
After that they started to play a song to keep the rain away from Glebe Park and as the played that song the sun pokes itself through the cloud, there is a wind but no rain and they make this rain song sounds cool doesn’t it and then they sang a song called the best part of me is you which has a lot of great meaning to it as well as having a lot of people sitting on the grass of the chairs really enjoying the music and they will finish with a song called paint this land which is their reconsiliation song which is an artists song as you look around people are painting pictures of this land from north to south and east to west great song this is
As we are sitting here enjoying the fun at Glebe Park for reconsiliation day we are going to see some great aboriginal music with the didgeridoo as they have got body paint on them and the music sounds quite nice and pleasant
And as the Chant went on two women came on and with the leaves they swept the land clean and yes, this is ever so great and doesn’t the didgeridoo sound great and I can see other people gathered behind the stage to continue this great music and after that they have some audience participation where they made them do a few arm movements and then they had a laugh saying I feel like chicken tonight like chicken tonight and that is what this day is about having a bit of a laugh and I believe aborigines need to have a day like this because it explains their culture and after that they brought all the kids down to do the kangaroo dance and this got the kids really excited and
Each kid is enjoying being kangaroos and we are up to the last act and it will be interested what interesting dances they will perform today, well the first dance is the paddle dance which has a catchy tune and an interesting tune and as I was waking away from the main stage I was walking over to the middle and busker and former voice star Lucy Sugerman playing a few of her very own songs and she is sounding very good as she has performed at events before but for her to be at the first reconsiliation day was a great opportunity for her
And she is playing her keyboard
Well her music I guess is great music for this day and then she sang a bob Dylan song and she sang it very well, well she has got a great voice
She certainly lets out plenty of meaning in her music and then as I was walking out I heard a blast from the 80s with the song let’s hear it for the boys but two great men singers and they make the song sound like it is really cool and I had a great time watching the reconsiliation day concert and I will definately be back next year
Catch ya