STORYTIME:
Back in 87, I was performing with the Darwin mob at the 21st National Folk Festival in Alice Springs, NT. It was only the 2nd time The Nash had happened outside of a capital city and the 1st was also in The Alice, in 1980.
(BtW, it only happened twice more : 1989 was Maleny, Qld and 1990 was Kuranda, Qld, and both of which were financially very successful, somewhat unusual for NFFs up til then).

Our lad from The Top End, Paul Lawler, entered into the Declan Affley Songwriting Award competition, his semi-autobiographical song “Son of Rome”***. We all had high hopes for Lawls’ excellent entry.

Imagine our chagrin, when a bloody ‘Quoinslander’ walked away with the prize!!!

One “Noel Gardner” had come west, to sing his mate’s song in the comp. His mate was Mark Gillett, a Kiwi-born-and-raised Queenslander, and the song was “Watching The Obi Flow”.

Many years later, with Paul and I living together in Maleny, Qld and running the ABOFOTS folkclub (where the afore-mentioned Mark Gillett was often welcomed!), well, my sister Alex (who was also at that Alice National),
took up with a Sunshine Coast bloke who was a singer-songwriter ..... and now, Noel Gardner is my Brother-in-Law!!

The winning song is below.

Oh, and Paul’s ‘pipped’ song*** will be posted soon :)


WATCHING THE OBI FLOW ~ Mark Gillett (Hinterland Band)


The city no longer gave me thrills, so I thought I’d move up to the hills
Draw the dole to pay my scratch, sing my songs and tend my patch and
Watch The Obi Flow, I’d Watch The Obi Flow
Sing my songs and tend my patch and Watch The Obi Flow.

Well this countryside had eased my mind, I thought I’d left my cares behind
But I have found what many knew : the city will catch up with you
No matter how far you go, it doesn’t matter how far you go
The city will catch up with you no matter how far you go.

Coz down in the gorge where the trees were tall, they’ve gone and built a mighty wall
And from a lake that’s dark and still, turned The Obi through the hills
To the Sunshine Coast below, to the Sunshine Coast below
They’ve turned The Obi through the hills to the Sunshine Coast below.

Well, Maleny’s sewage flows right through, and the cow sheds drain to The Obi – POOH!!
The water looks a trifle rough, you wouldn’t want to drink the stuff
But my, the lawn should grow, my my, the lawns will grow
You wouldn’t want to drink this stuff, but my, the lawns will grow.

Now down in the gorge where the waters flow, or on the slopes where the bunyas grow
Once they bulldoze, burn, and wreck, no earthly power will bring it back
And the kids will never know, you can tell’em but they won’t know
No earthly power will bring it back and the kids’ll never know.

Well, my little house was high and dry, till the Shire Inspector he dropped by
Said this house should never have been, tear it down and start again
Before the next big blow, it’ll fall down in the next big blow
Tear it down and start again, before the next big blow.

So I’ll move to Maroochy by the sea, get me a job in a factory
And when I come home to my flat, I’ll just turn on my kitchen tap
And Watch The Obi Flow, I’ll Watch The Obi Flow
I’ll just turn on my kitchen tap and Watch The Obi Flow.

I’ll Watch The Obi Flow, I’ll Watch The Obi Flow
Just turn on my kitchen tap and Watch The Obi Flow.


And Watch The Obi Flow, I’ll be Watching The Obi Flow
Just turn on my kitchen tap and .....
(spoken) : Watch The Obi Obi Flow : drip - drip - drip


First track of 4 from The Hinterland Band’s EP “Against the Flow” c.1985 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFoIDwyZ0XA    with Mark Gillett (also on banjo), Noel Gardner, Jim Maloney, Paul Vella.
This song is still in Noel Gardner’s repertoire, but doesn’t seem to be recorded elsewhere. The posthumous CD of Mark’s recordings (Mark Gillett, 1953 – 2007) proposed by friends at his Wake, is apparently still a work-in-progress .....

PS        The Obi Obi Creek [which drops around 435m over its 53.2km length], was named after a noted warrior of the local Aboriginal ‘Kabi Kabi’ people.


Cheers, R-J
(and yes, OK, it's a top little number!!! Thanks to Noel for correcting my lyrics :)