G'day Don,

As you know, since you have the Pithead in the Fern CD, that's a modern song by John Warner - who sings on that CD with Margaret Walters ... and both of them are Mudcatters (Margaret under her own name and John under the cognomen "Jack Halyard")! I should have my transcription of the tune somewhere in my music program, since there were requests for the 'dots' from my Monday Night Workshop regulars.

The story relates to tales of a convict who escaped from Tasmania in a stolen small boat, but was wrecked on the other side of Bass Strait somewhere between the unsuccessful Government attempt to colonise that area ... and the later private settlement group, under John Batman (who sailed from my wife's home town Georgetown, in Tasmania's north-east in 1835). We've had a few threads about the song in the past ...

Errr... probably best to disregard Gargoyle's advice - unless you are prepared to write off the bellows. Once the mastic from adhesive tape starts to infect bellows they cannot be repaired with effective adhesives and bellows material. Duct tape (or real Gaffer Tape) will hold the bellows together as a last resort ... but it will definitely be the last.

Regards,

Bob