“My big sister learnt this song!” “My cousin can play this!” The excitement in the room was palpable. The look on the faces of the Grade One/Two students was a sight to behold. This is what bliss looks like.
I remember Sundays in the cold redbrick church, the smell of Mum's leather gloves and lipstick. During readings and sermons I would run imaginary horse races between the red, blue and green ribbons in my missal.
It’s the middle of winter. Never mind, we’re wearing shorts and thongs. The sky is an unbroken plain of blue. Well, not entirely unbroken. Here and there, a pillar of white smoke plumes from a cane mill.
The Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia on 7 February 2009 killed 174 people. These four stories include two by Stephen Andrew, who survived that day.
Vin Maskell Family room, Melbourne, June 2012You don’t have to own every song you like. You don’t have to possess all the music you love.
Rick Kane Perth, April 2006Someone asked, “Where’s the music?” This would be the cathartic moment. This would be where the pain flowed out as the love poured in.
Paul Kelly was always played in summer, the sunny endless holidays, the excitement of Christmas Day growing ever closer, ticking those days off one by one.It was only through my parents’ divorce and the breaking up of our family into smaller divided units that I realized the true nature of the song's story.
David Oke The Dancing Dog, Footscray, May 2015Heather and I grinned and looked at each other through the night, as if to say, ‘How did all this happen?’ ‘Is our son really this good?’ and ‘Who would have believed this?’
David Oke Anglesea, 1984 and 2010There has always been a bit of rivalry between Anglesea and the neighbouring town Torquay. I think that it is more than the local netball, football and lawn-bowls competitive spirit.
Darren 'Smokie' Dawson Newport, Melbourne 1992As the opening chords of Under the Milky Way softly made their way through the speakers, I asked the woman with whom I was planning to spend the rest of my life to dance with me. “I like this,” she whispered.