Shows
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 26 SongNeed to have one positive from Halls Creek. Publish the last of the Opus. The best for last possibly.The ute has been located in Fitzroy Crossing. Intact but in what condition we do not yet know. The saga continues…John Durack: You'll be pleased to know that that concludes the speeches, and there will be one last Musical Event.MUSICAL EVENT - featuring John, Michael, James, Patrick and Matthew (with accompaniment by Hannah and William).Welcome to - 'Mother and Dad' - A song to keep th...
2022-07-3008 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 25 Matthew DurackPatience this is the second last of the series. Curtesy of our isolation in Halls Creek.John Durack: Thank you, Patrick. And last, but not least, the man in the wonderful shirt, brother Matthew.Matthew Durack:Well luckily I do have a supporting crew, and ours will be a multimedia presentation, with a small musical interlude followed by some rambling. Alex would like to play 'Morning Has Broken'.FLUTE PLAYSMatthew Durack: Now that was the best of this speech, unlike the speeches to date, mine being...
2022-07-2809 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 24 Patrick DurackStill in Covid isolation in Halls Creek - so what else to do.Patience all I promise that we are coming to the end of the Opus - There are 26 bits and this is the 24th.Patrick Durack:Well the Patrick Duracks will be a bit shorter, because we don't have quite such a ready supporting cast, and mercifully they've been very quiet so far.But it's getting a bit towards the end. We're not in the west, but we're in the south, and from down there we'd like to thank...
2022-07-2702 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 23 James DurackJust to prove it an be done on the road. Posted from the Hidden Valley Caravan Park Kununurra.James Durack:It's starting to get down towards the end of proceedings, and it's hard not to repeat what my elder illustrious brothers have said. This afternoon will be a success if in 30 years time we are gathered here or somewhere else, again to talk over memories of family and still feel proud to be a family, not because we're Duracks, not because we're anything special, but because we have a love of memories.Last...
2022-07-1205 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 22 Margaret Durack / MaddisonMargaret Durack / Maddison:I believe that it's a fact that men are interested in meeting their prospective mothers-in-law with a view to seeing how their wives may turn out. Well I think the same is true for women. And when I met Bill in the early 1970s I knew immediately that he was a very special man, and that I would be very lucky to be his daughter-in-law, and in fact that is the case, and always will be.Bill, all my contact with you has been warm and full of joy, and I treasure...
2022-06-2102 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 21 William DurackWilliam Durack:There's always talk about how you learn from your parents and everything, and they give you all this advice, but I've had a lot of advice from my Grandfather and from my Grandmother, and I'd just like to recall some of them. A few funny ones.I remember I was going off to Germany, and I went over to have a talk with Nona, and her advice was, 'Don't fall in love and don't do any silly things that I wouldn't do' and all those sorts of things. And Bill's sort of advice...
2022-06-0601 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 20 Hannah DurackJohn Durack: Thank you Charlotte, that was wonderful. The James Durack family; I'm going to let them decide the order.Hannah Durack:We just have a bit of silliness for you, actually. We like everyone else here, appreciate and admire and treasure Nona and Bill very much, and in honouring them today we'll be performing The William Tell Overture. And Daddy Bill, we just need you to come up and help us, if you wouldn't mind.HANNAH, WILLIAM AND GEORDIE DURACK PRESENT THEIR OWN VERSION OF 'THE WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE' WITH ASSISTANCE OF...
2022-05-2602 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 19 Michael DurackJohn Durack: Michael Durack.Michael Durack:Well Mother and Dad, I think a lot of what I'd sort of love to go over again John has pre-empted, as he pre-empted a few things in my life, in getting there first. Which I could have easily repeated of course.But it is wonderful to think back on all of the things that have gone on, a lot of them without almost realising they were going on until you can look back and say, 'Oh that's probably, apart from Kim's philosophy, but that's got a...
2022-05-2112 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 18 Rita TaylorJohn Durack: Thank you, Ida. And I'd like to introduce those of you who haven't met her, to a very continuing thread in our lives, our neighbour Rita Taylor.Rita Taylor:I would just like to say I didn't come here prepared to make a speech. Matthew, you didn't let me know about this. But I would like to say I have known Mr and Mrs Durack since Mr Durack came to our property when Matthew was only a little boy about that high.Bill Durack: And you weren't that much bigger!
2022-05-1601 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 17 Ida SmithJohn Durack: Thank you, Ellis. And I think, Ida, you're going to try and upstage Ellis.Ida Smith:No, no, I gave the idea away. Well I'd just like to say that I believe in threads that carry through people's lives. And I've had a few threads through mine, but one in particular was in 1949, with my late husband Raoul Joyce We did a trip over to the west and up into the Kimberley, and we were given a Letter of Introduction to stay on Argyle, the old Argyle, by the General Manager of Peel...
2022-05-0404 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 16 Ellis SmithJohn Durack: Thank you, Nanette. Ellis Smith. Ellis is a very old friend of Mother and Dad's and I'm not sure whether he's speaking or doing something else.Ellis Smith:Chairman John, families and friends, before I submit my different type of contribution this afternoon, I'd like to say how privileged and proud both Ida and I are to be good friends of Noni and Bill's. We do value this friendship very much and there's a very soft spot, and quite a big one in our hearts for both Noni and Bill.I'm...
2022-04-2805 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 15 Nanette RolandJohn Durack: Nanette Roland, who needs no introduction, I don't think. Thank you Michael, for bringing those wishes from the other side of Australia for us.Nanette Roland:Hello. Well you've all been so good, you frighten me. But I've got something to say and I want to say it. And also, Bill stole my thunder by quoting poetry, but never mind.Why do I ask about the song of long past years?I am, I breathe. Do I not hear the tune?The cloud hangs lightly...
2022-04-2402 min
The One About....Durack Opus 1998 14 Michael ClancyJohn Durack: Michael Clancy, I'm pleased to be able to invite you to follow up on that. Michael Clancy, for the few of you who don't know, is son of Dad's sister, Elizabeth. Michael Clancy.Michael Clancy:That is very hard to follow, but I can quite understand it, particularly Matthew's comments. Now he has felt, as he says being a third generation below his grandfather, I would say second, but still. I'm in the same generation as Michael and John and Matthew, and I feel that same thing, even though I'm just...
2022-04-0704 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 13 KimJohn Durack: Thank you, Peggy. All right, Matthew and Kim, do your worst.Kim Durack:This was written in the car, on the way up.As we move into the new millennium, the Duracks need a focus. So to this end, I've developed the Durack Business Plan. How we're going to do this, is we're going to patent and market the Durack genome. Now the genome is the genetic map of what makes up a human, and like Patsy and Stumpy travelling to the Kimberley, this map will allow others without...
2022-04-0504 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 12 MatthewMatthew Durack:I'm really leading in Kim's speech, because his is really funny and mine's really boring. But mine is a message to our generation, which is third generation from Bill and Noni, which is: over the years they have instilled in our Father and uncles, and then to ourselves, this feeling of absolutely defying the Establishment in all walks of life, but also able to move through it and within it, to achieve what we need to do. And I think this is a hard line for us to go, but I feel a real duty...
2022-04-0402 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 11 Peggy HarphamJohn Durack: Thank you, Brian. And now, Peggy Harpham.Peggy Harpham:Well Noni and I have known each other for a long time, really a long time. This talk will be a bit like one of those novels, the family saga, you know, but it's only a friend's saga, this one. Noni and I studied for an Arts degree at Sydney University, Sancta Sophia College. She was a sophomore and I was a humble fresher, rather a suspect one, I think, because I overheard two sophomores talking once, and one said to the other, 'What...
2022-03-3106 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 10 Brian TargetJohn Durack: Mr Brian Target. I give you Mr Brian Target.Brian Target:At last I've had an opportunity to see what they're doing down here! (standing at the lectern - turning on the tape recorder) He's rather rude about it, he uses two fingers. I only want to say this, in all seriousness, my wife and myself, Bill and Noni have had a great effect on us, and our life here, and we have formed a very, very deep affection for them and a great deal of respect as well. Thank you, Bill and...
2022-03-2800 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 9 LukeJohn Durack: Luke Durack!Luke Durack:Matthew and Kim tell me that to avoid that morning gloom that comes with having to battle with another day, you have to wake up, sit up and tell yourself, 'I am a machine'. I'm sure each morning at the inhuman hour that they rise, this is exactly what Nona and Bill do, because they are machines.I think it was the elder Matthew who mentioned to me that this morning gloom was an inherited repressed memory that came from the days when one woke, left his...
2022-03-2001 min
The One About....Durack Opus 1998 8 TessaJohn Durack: While the cake is being distributed, I ask my daughter Tessa to say a few words.Tessa Durack:Thanks, Dad. Just a few words from me. I was just thinking over the past couple of days over a few very vivid memories I have of time spent with my Grandparents, and I thought I would just take the opportunity to go over them and to thank you for them.Nona, there's no-one I know who can bring a story alive like you can; for reading us 'Captain Midnight' under the stars...
2022-03-1202 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 7 CakeAPPLAUSEJohn Durack: The youngest member of the family will now cut the cake. Matthew, yes you, you're the youngest member of the family.CAKE CUTTING CEREMONY FOLLOWS. Cake was made by Jenny Dearden, (Matthew's fiancee) 'Happy Birthday' chorus; 'Hip, hip, hooray!! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theoneabout.substack.com
2022-03-0701 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 6 Robyn DurackJohn Durack: Have I used up my family quota? Robbie, where are you?Robyn Durack:Jack, that was a terrific speech, I'm so glad I married you.OK, Without Further Ado,though not First Cab Off The Rank,but Without A Doubt In The Nick Of Time,I'd like to Face The Music,Do What Comes Naturally,Put My Money Where My Mouth Isat This Little Grey Home In The West,without Jumping The Gun.Noni...
2022-02-2304 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 5 John DurackJohn Durack: Folks, I should tell you that we're now going to have desert. After desert there will be more speeches. There is absolutely no obligation, except on Mother and Dad, to stay and listen to the rest of the speeches. I'm really serious about that, because they could go on for a long time.JOLLY SOUNDSJohn Durack:All right, folks, I remind you again that everybody is at liberty to keep on eating, drinking and leaving when they feel like it.Mother and Dad, other family members, and friends...
2022-02-1425 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 4 DadJohn Durack: And now I give you the husband of the luckiest woman in the world! Dad, over to you.Bill Durack:Thank you, Chairman John, and welcome again to all of you here. It's certainly a wonderful day for Noni and I. I feel that I could retire here, and having welcomed you all, could have said, 'Well Noni has said it now for us all; there's nothing much left for me to say. But I think it's expected that I'll keep here for a little while. It was suggested...
2022-02-0111 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 3 MotherJOHN DURACK:Family and friends, I'd like to introduce you to the woman who when I inquired of my brother Michael, how one should introduce one's Mother, he said without a moment's hesitation, 'As the luckiest woman in the world, to have five such wonderful children!' And there was mention of a husband, but we thought that children came first.I give you the luckiest woman in the world,MOTHER.APPLAUSENoni Durack: Well hello everyone. First to say that I'm so very grateful that you all came...
2022-01-2607 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998 2I promise that we will get past the introductory stuff and onto the main players soon but it would not be proper to start without saying grace!Father Leonard:Good afternoon everybody. Just before I say grace, the sons have been kind enough to suggest to me if I wanted to say something, this might be the opportunity, because there's quite a number of speeches later this afternoon. And I would simply like to say that I am, oddly enough, only the second parish priest of St Thomas Moore's, my predecessor having been Father Bill...
2022-01-2602 min
The One About....Durack OPUS 1998I don’t expect that anybody outside the family will be interested in this but it has considerable significance to the Bill and Noni and wider Durack clan. There is rather a lot of it and it will come in small bits (27 I think) as I get organised.Been sitting on my computer these last 24 odd years and only distributed in a few hard copies and CDs. Don’t think USB sticks were a thing at the time. Or should I say a succession computers I think originally maybe it was a 486 if that makes sense to anyb...
2022-01-1902 min
The One About....BirdsThis is an early morning recording of the bird song on the Isabella River. Bit of a test of the podcasting feature but very nostalgic listening for me. I think made mid 1990s.I have collected some interesting family audio over the years which I might share if it is easy enough to do.I have had no success with the test email but I will give it a go and see what happens. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...
2021-12-111h 01
Been There Done ThatLooking backwards – showing the path ahead …Coming Out is often a traumatic process – but fancy doing it at a Disneyland ‘Gay Day’, safely among your friends; or locally using our ‘midsumma Carnival Day’ or ‘Pride March’ to be lost in the crowd.
Gay icons sometimes are shared with the general population – especially when they are the calibre of Rudolph Nureyev, the athletic Russian ballet dancer, born on 17 Mar 1938 but died too soon on 6 Jan 1993 of complications from HIV/AIDS. The Arts are all the richer for the contributions of our gay icons.
Another shared gay icon was born one year later on 18 Mar 1939 –...
2018-03-1641 min