G'day Margret,

Thanks for the clarification ... I may (being a bit fuzzy with an annoying head cold!) have got a bit confused with Nerys's direct input on one of the "ANZACs" songs, which was based on her own family history. I still suspect that Nerys's hand isn't far away when Ted works on his songs.

I spent some time looking around other source books and references to womwn convicts ... particularly those this song is inspired by: the Class 3 women at Tasmania's Cascades Female Factory ... for a friend who is working up material for her role guiding in the restored buildings (now a factory making sumptuous fudges!) up Mt Wellington, above Hobart. The Class 3 women probably reckoned the authorities couldn't downgrade them anymore - and they were game to make their feelings known, particularly about sanctimonious humbug.

The incident specifically behind the song was when the women were assembled for a church service, attended by the Governor, Sir John Franklin and his wife Lady Jane (who were not disliked by the convicts) ... but the clergyman's platitudes did - and the Class 3 women hoisted their skirts and bared their buttocks at him! (sans cullotes!).

Ted's song examines the way the system and society brought these women to such a pass. I hope he draws some comfort from the fact that the convicts weren't "mooning" the Governor (a position uncomfortably close to his present role) but the Parson.

Regards,

Bob