Absolutely fascinating! What imaginations you people have! With apologies to my fellow Australians who have already submitted, I suggest the following rules (which can, of course, be added to) for Oz folk songs.

1. A swaggie, two coolibahs, Ned Kelly, several peelers (preferably dead), and heaps of gunplay are mandatory.

2. Sheep should be mentioned, unless you're Tasmanian. I am, so I can make that comment. (For the non-Aussie contributors, many unsavoury jokes are made about Tasmanians and sheep.)

3. The lyrics should be set to a lilting melody (such as The Dead March from Saul), and should be sung on key occasionally.

4. And let's not forget some Aussie slang. It should be hard to understand unless you lived before the depression, and should not be understood at all by anyone under 30 years old. Things like whaling (nothing to do with marine creatures), johnny cakes, lambing down, ryebuck shearers, etc.

I'll leave it there, because it's early morning, and I have a folk practice session later today.

Lest you think I'm running Aussie folk down, I hasten to assure you I sing Aussie songs with great delight ... and I even understand some of them!

Congrats on your effort, Alan of Aus. I'll try and match it later this weekend, if I can muster the energy, and locate the Muse.

Oh, b*gg*r it, I'll try a quickie now:

Say Alan man and did you plan that song that you just writ A bit more work, a chorus too, and you'll have quite a hit CDs, tapes, and vinyl discs will fill your purse with loot But what about a johnny cake and coolibahs to boot. The Lachlan River you have missed, and lambing down as well, Addition of Ned Kelly, and swaggies would be swell A ryebuck shearer, dead police, smoking bushranger's guns Maggie May and Gundagai, it gives a man the ... (time for me to leave)