G'day Kathryn,

I'm not too sure ... and I'm at work, so I can't check until I get home ... but I think the best known tune to The Water Lily is Priscilla Herdman's. She set a lot of Henry Lawson songs ... and is well represented in Chris Kempster's Songs of Henry Lawson (which has just been re-published in an expanded edition).

On another tack, I published (for the Bush Music Club) a small booklet of Sally Sloane's songs - assembled as "Australian songs for women". I must say that even this small book includes a number of songs that are more "men's songs" than "women's songs" ... but they are all songs Sally sang in her long and tuneful life. If you PM me a current email address, I'll send you PDFs of a selection that may suit.

Phyl Lobl has written a number of great songs from a woman's perspective (as well as great songs that work for blokes ... including one that was based on a woodturner's use of his craft to do the wooing he was not skilled in ... based on words and skilss of a friend I had suggested ... and often sung by me in memory of my Dad ... to whom it applies just as well!) I'll check Phyl's books and records, all of which are on my shelves and see if anything there fits the bill. One series Phyl wrote were the result of interviewing women on the remote and bleak west coast of Tasmania ... and crafting songs about how they made do ... and prospered. There are quite a few that bring back aspects of my time in Tasmania.

Regards,

Bob