- 1. MARY CHRISTINA
Enda Kenny
- My memories of Auckland, NZ, 'City of Sails' are haunted bv two boats: one was the QE2 and the other a small craft bearing my mother's Christian names. I was reminded of how infrequently I write to the queen - Happy Birthday Ma. (Ruapehu and Taranaki are volcanoes on the North Island - one shouts, the other sleeps.)
- 2. DEVIL'S ISLAND Bernard Carney
- Earlier this year I flew over Robben island into Cape Town, South Africa, and thought of Mandela. A fortnight later I flew over the tourist resort of Rottnesf Island returning to Australia. While one country acknowledges its dark history, the other continues to deny and perpetuate it.
- 3. ELLEN
Enda Kenny
- Ellen is the long awaited and much loved daughter of an Adelaide engineer and an extraordinary nurse, living proof that the IVF program can bring smiles all 'round. When she grows out of her jumpsuit I'm sure she'll grow into someone special.
- 4. THE MARY ELLEN CARTER Stan Rogers
- It's been ten or more years now and I don't think I'll ever tire of singing this one.
- 5. ONE NIGHT IN MELBOURNE Enda Kenny/Ken Ferguson
- On consecutive nights - okay. so I cheated, it was two nights - I heard lhe pool balls rattle as Headbellys and Furphies whirled away in the corner. They don't do that in Fremantle, where Ken Ferguson added a verse a year later, but they still do it at The Lomond.
- 6. MICHELLE Enda Kenny
- Michelle (Smith) De Bruin is the finest female Olympian since Dawn Fraser. Thanks to a rumour started by Janet Evans (USA), and perpetuated by the British press, she is also one of the world's most drug-tested athletes. The same press, eager to suggest 'guilt by association', have never reported that her husband and coach was cleared of the charges for which he served a four-year suspension. She may not have swooshes or stripes on her swimming costume but I think she's dynamite.
- 7. HOME TO ME Tom Paxton
- Next best thing to a bottle of wine.
- 8. OLD BONES Jez Lowe
- Jez is my favourite left handed songwriter.
- 9. THE CAUSE Mick Ryan
- Mick Ryan from Bournemouth is a fine singer I met while touring in the UK in 1995. He has many songs as powerful as this one.
- 10. SECONDS OUT Enda Kenny
- I've always been amused by how much everyday language draws from the boxing ring - so I threw my hat in instead of the towel. A Mick's metaphor!
- 11. THE SOUTHERN CROSS IS CALLING ME
Joe Paolacci
- The optimism of Australia's post-war migrants deserves admiration and celebration. I rent a house in Carlton and know where to get the world's best gnocci.
- 12. SISTER, BROTHER Enda Kenny
- Written in England for the Norman Tubercular Choir
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