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Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline
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Subject: Lyr Add: KALGOORLIE PIPELINE From: rich-joy Date: 17 Jun 02 - 08:49 AM A song from the pen of Alan Ferguson - half of The Settlers (with Sean Roche) from Western Australia. An important story in WA's history; an amazing feat of engineering - and not the only one from the Irishman, Charles Yelverton O'Connor. Pity he was driven to suicide (in March 1902) before he was proven a hero.
The pipeline project commenced in 1898 and was completed in 1903, with the water being successfully pumped from Mundaring Weir in the Darling Ranges near Perth, to the Kalgoorlie/Coolgardie Goldfields, a distance of nearly 600kilometres. KALGOORLIE PIPELINE music : trad Irish
chorus : Way over the desert, the daylight is fading
Note : a biography of C.Y.O'Connor by Tony Evans, was published last year in WA (C.Y.O'Connor : His Life and Legacy) but I've not managed to locate a copy yet. Cheers! RJB |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Ted from Australia Date: 17 Jun 02 - 09:26 AM Trad Irish? sounds like Lightfoot to me |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: GUEST,Bruce, Melbourne Australia Date: 17 Jun 02 - 09:33 AM Alan Ferguson and Ken ??? from the Setters and Ray Downes (not related) were part form a great group call Blackthorn during the late 70's Bruce D |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 18 Jun 02 - 04:57 AM I remember Ken Fergusson was in Blackthorn on the Perth Folk Scene around the early to mid 70's(???) (But I never r'embered the others!) ... I seem to recall Ken in the NT too ... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Bob Bolton Date: 18 Jun 02 - 11:52 PM G'day rich-joy, That is, despite whatever source for the tune (pace Ted), quite a nice song on an important bit of local engineering. I'll have another listen to the WA Settlers CD ... it must be just past the 4 CDs of the NSW Settlers (... Snowy Mts Scheme songs). Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Terry K Date: 19 Jun 02 - 03:46 AM Isn't computery wonderful - I have my photos scanned in to my machine and on reading this thread was able to click my way to a lovely photo I have of Mundaring Weir, taken when I was there in 1968. I don't suppose it will have changed much! Incredible to think that's a third of the way back in time to when the pipeline was built. cheers, Terry |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Hrothgar Date: 19 Jun 02 - 05:09 AM Ken was in Facial Expression with Bob Sharpe, wasn't he? Based In Alice? Early 80s? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: GUEST,Bruce, Melbourne Australia Date: 19 Jun 02 - 05:18 AM Yes, Ken Fergusson was also in Facial Expressions (and a sometime guest with Bloodwood as well. Bob, There is no connection between The Settlers formed in WA during the eighties and the Settlers based in NSW that thave been doing song about the Snowy for eon's (to my knowledge. BTW I was given a CD copy of Blackthorn's cassette Footsteps Home by a member of Blackthorn last year. Bruce |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 19 Jun 02 - 08:18 AM Terry K - I think that what possibly could've changed, is that there would be a LOT less water nowadays!!! When I was a kid, a highlight of winter was to take a drive "up the Hills" with Dad, to visit the dams at Mundaring Weir and Canning Dam, just to see the water going over and down the spillway ... Perth's rainfall is always critically low these days and I think the Groundwater Bores are also a problem now - they've gotta go Deeper Down soon this Century, but are not sure of the ramifications ... Thread Drift - wasn't there an Aussie song about the Artesian Bores from the early 80's, about going "Deeper Down"??? Further Thread Drift - there were some good songs mid 80's by the WABO - W.A.Bush Orchestra - maybe someone needs to post some of them - any takers??? Cheers! R-J PS 1. I believe that "Pommie Bob" Sharpe is based in Perth now too ... And that Ray Downes is there in "Hobson's Choice" now ... PS 2. Bob, the 2 guys in the WA Settlers had beautiful melodious voices that harmonised well. The NSW Settlers have a very important place in Oz history too. Plus Ulick 'Boyle's "The Cooma Cavaliers" (e.g.), is a top little number performed live - and esp. by Peter Bate in Darwin's Top End Folk Club, I recall ... PS 3. I've realised that when I added the lyrics of "Kalgoorlie Pipeline", the second of the three mentions of "chorus" is misleading, coz the verse that immediately follows is NOT the chorus (it's merely my HTML problem) ... Phew! At least I got it back to the topic, eh?!
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: GUEST,Bruce, Melbourne Australia Date: 19 Jun 02 - 09:38 AM I've just seached through my records for "Deeper down" song but cannot find it at the moment, but i seam to remember it was on a record produced in WA. Talking about WABO - W.A.Bush Orchestra does anybody have a spare copy of that record as well that the related timber album, someone stole my copies of those years ago. Bruce |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 19 Jun 02 - 09:47 AM Did WABO do that good one about the Southern Cross windmills as well??? And what about the "Keep them logs rollin' boys, down to the mill, my boys ..." number!!! It's a funny thing. At the time things happen, you somehow think that they'll always be there and available when you want them again ... There's a lot of Folk Music and Folk Books that I now regret not collecting (and retaining) when I had the opportunity years ago ... (sigh) Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Bob Bolton Date: 19 Jun 02 - 09:50 AM G'day, Bruce: I know they are two totally different groups ... I was just mentionaing that Ulick O'Boyle's crew had been around, using that name for quite a while (and still around!) ... I bought their first LP from the staff canteen at Khancoban in 1966 or '67, when I was working on Murray 2 dam. rich-joy: I think I have posted on two quite different settings of Paterson's poem Deeper Down ... Graham Jenkins fairly upbeat version with a much shortened verse and simplified structure and Cathy Sullivan's moodier and minor setting of the full text. (I certainly dug them out for 'Catter 'Kayracer' (... who may now be 'Kathryn') - and I would have posted them to the 'Cat ... one day they may leach into the DT! (Both are good songs in their own ways.) Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 27 Aug 02 - 09:26 PM I finally located a copy of A. G. Evans' biography of the amazing Charles Yelverton O'Connor : UWA Press edition, 2001 ~ "C. Y. O'Connor : His Life and Legacy". After reading this book, I was left with an impotent rage against the bastards in both the West Australian Parliament and the Media (particularly "The Sunday Times") at the turn of the (previous) century, whose deliberate lies and slander caused this good and brilliant man to take his own life ,in 1902 ... And then I wonder, how much have things really changed. Who was it who said : "The more things change, the more they stay the same ..."???!!! Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Hrothgar Date: 28 Aug 02 - 04:39 AM The name Paterson gave to "Deeper Down" was "Song of the Artesian Water." |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Bob Bolton Date: 28 Aug 02 - 07:24 AM G'day Hrothgar, Song of the Artesian Water indeed for the Paterson opus. I tend to call Graham Jenkins's extensive (and dis-approved of by the Paterson literary executors) reworking Deeper Down while using Paterson's name for Cathy Sullivan's song, which uses the unaltered text. I may have slightly concatenated the titles in my June posting. Regards, Bob Bolton ' |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Bob Bolton Date: 28 Aug 02 - 09:00 AM G'day rich-joy, Im seem to have got confused ... posting to Mudcat and eating lunch ... and put my promise to dig out the "Southern Cross Windmill song" into another of your threads! Anyway, I suspected that I had already posted ... and it was in this thread: and the correct name is The Windmill Run. It is a good song ... but I would not mind a bit more info myself - I guess I need to ask Alan Mann someday! Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Bob Bolton Date: 28 Aug 02 - 09:07 AM G'day again, rich-joy ... If you want dots, I have this song set in my MusicTime program, so I can send you a single page "sheet music" version - either as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (you need Acrobat reader for that ... but most people have that as a result of all recent computer manuals being delivered in PDF format) ... or as a TIFF "image" - just needing to be printed. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 29 Aug 02 - 06:16 AM Thanks Bob, I'll go for a TIFF this time!! Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 29 Aug 02 - 07:25 AM Just received - many thanks for that Bob - has the guitar chords OK, but what do all those squares and rectangles mean??!! (I'm not terribly 'puter-literate!!) My Partner ("Poor Misery"!) has just mentioned a good windmill song that his old mate, Mick Fahey used to sing years ago in the Territory : "The Kelley's Turning" he thought it may be called - do you know of it?? Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 29 Aug 02 - 07:35 AM Silly Me ~ I should've checked before I did part 2 of that last post - there's a thread entitled Sea-Faring Songs Go Oilfield (or somesuch) and our old mate Stewie from the NT had already posted the words - by Aussie, Larry King (but he still wants info on the guy ...) - not exactly about windmills, but never mind, the odd can of XXXX has impaired Poor Misery's memory!!! Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Bob Bolton Date: 29 Aug 02 - 08:31 AM Errr ... G'day rich-joy, That PDF was one that didn't work ... and I should have sent the TIFF image. I have sent a good image by e-mail - while you were sending your posting. This one has a GIF of The Windmill Run, a TIFF of Bush Girl and MIDIs of both. Regards, Bob |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Stewie Date: 29 Aug 02 - 08:31 AM Hi R-J I hope you and the gnome are well. By coincidence, there is windmill connection with 'Kelly's Turning' even though it is about oil rigs. I got on to Alex Hood who used to work with Larry King on Bill Peach's 'This Day Tonight'. Evidently, they wrote 2 songs a night for the show, one of which was telecast. As a result of television exposure, they undertook an Arts Council-sponsored tour of Oz as the Prodigal Sons. They wrote many songs together, but 'Kelly's Turning' was a Larry King solo effort. Alex said King wrote it after spending time with oil rig workers in Exmouth area of WA. He set the song to a Dutch traditional tune: 'The Windmill's Turning'. --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 29 Aug 02 - 08:48 AM Good One, Stew!! Cheers! R-J
PS Just to bring this thread back to its original purpose : C.Y.O'Connor and his engineering feats :
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Folkie Date: 29 Aug 02 - 09:03 AM I've only just come across this thread and as I was living in Perth back in the 70s would like to correct the slight confusion over Alan Ferguson and Ken Ferguson mentioned way back in June. Alan Ferguson was in the Settlers along with Sean Roche while Ken Ferguson was in Blackthorn, along with Alan Clarke and Ray Downes. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 30 Aug 02 - 06:40 AM A-ha!! Who ELSE do you remember from those good old daze??!! There're not too many of us Sandgropers around, it seems ... Were you a Governor Broome / Stables / Shaftsbury / Mulligans / elsewhere / regular??? Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: GUEST,Kim Ingram Date: 17 Sep 03 - 11:34 PM Hello, I am nearlly crying after so long I have found The Settlers, How many people do not know of them, I cannot count? I am crying now as I remember listening to the Bound for Western Australia album with my Dad, He went away nearly four years now and I miss him. Enough of that, can you tell me if it is still possible to get a copy of the album. I have tried so many places in NSW and QLD. my email address is immacolata34@hotmail.com. Kind Regards Kim |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: GUEST,Li'l Aussie Bleeder. Date: 18 Sep 03 - 08:13 AM i have tne WABOrchestra record. I won it in a raffle at the Kalamunda folk club, early eighties. What did somebody want to know off it? L |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 02 Oct 03 - 02:38 AM Hi LAB! I was after lyrics for The Timber Cutters Song (?) (... keep them logs rolling, boys ...) and The Windmill Song (?) ( ... Southern Cross keeps turning ...) I think Bob Rummery still has a copy of the tape to sell me, but, he's a very busy man! ... Kim Ingram - "Bound For Western Australia" is available on CD (without that fantastic LP record booklet though) and is usually found in the $9.99 bins at record stores (Tempo recording DBCD 114)- maybe try a West Aussie store or else FolkTrax on Sth Aust Folk Fed'n's webpage. Meanwhile, has anyone written any songs about C.Y. O'Connor??? Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Bob Bolton Date: 02 Oct 03 - 08:00 AM G'day Rich-Joy, I have a full songsheet treatment of The Windmill Run ... I transcribed it from a Wongawilli Band recording and sing it on occasions - and encourage others at my Music Workshop to try it. If you give me an e-mail address via PM, I can send you a PDF image of the "Sheet music" (or any other graphic format, if you have a preference). regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 03 Oct 03 - 05:01 AM Oh No! How Embarrassing! I'm now pretty sure you sent me The Windmill Run - yonks ago, Bob!! I'd just forgotten that THAT was what it was called and also, put it on my humungous pile of "songs to learn one day"!! SORRY!! Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 12 Sep 20 - 10:59 PM OK, I know it's a long time ago, but I am resurrecting this thread in Lockdown time, because I still wanted to find songs written about C.Y. (Charles Yelverton) O'Connor, the brilliant Irish-born engineer responsible for the "Kalgoorlie Pipeline" (the common name) and many other engineering marvels of both West Aussie and EnZed history. It seems that over the last 18 years, a few songs have indeed been written, in WA at least. Here is what I've found so far. Cheers, R-J "Lifeline (a tribute to C Y O'Connor)" by Glyn Lehmann It can be heard here : https://songlibrary.net/Lifeline.html "C.Y.O'Connor" by The Healys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9NYlYqoffs "C.Y. O'Connor, I Wish You Were Here" by Carmel Charlton (who runs a Perth folkclub) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_6NdScCGY "The Eyes of the Engineer" by Bernard Carney which I haven't found online but is on his "WEST" CD (lyrics below) .... There is also a PDF of poems/songs online that cover this topic : http://www.rolian.net/no1pump/pdfs/Poems-of-the-Pipeline.pdf from a National Trust project called "The Golden Pipeline". Many Dryblower Murphy poems are included. Lifeline (A Tribute to C.Y. O'Connor) Verse 1 Dig, dig, dig, dig. We're out in the burning desert It's eighteen ninety three Our throats are dry as we dig for gold There's something more precious we need We came here to Coolgardie And to Kalgoorlie too Now ev'ry man and his dog Wants to make their dreams come true We hear there's a bloke with vision A man who knows his stuff He goes by the name O'Connor Some say he's a genius Verse 2 He's putting his mind to work He's drawing up a plan He's gonna send some water here Any way he can Gonna build the Mundaring Weir Store the water there Send it over three hundred miles of barren land We hear there's a bloke with vision A man who knows his stuff He goes by the name O'Connor Some say he's a genius CHORUS C.Y. build us a pipeline Send us a lifeline Open up this land C.Y. they gave you a hard time History will be kind You opened up this land Verse 3 Dig, dig, dig, dig. We're out in the burning desert The twenty first century His legacy flows on and on, on through our lives And as we quench our thirst and wash away the sweat We'll think of the name O'Connor And say, 'He's a genius.' CHORUS C.Y. build us a pipeline Send us a lifeline Open up this land C.Y. they gave you a hard time History will be kind You opened up this land Opened up this land. Opened up this land. Opened up this land. Lifeline. Words & Music by Glyn Lehmann C.Y.O'Connor I took my wife & kids to see a statue of a man riding a horse In the surf of South Fremantle beach. He Devoted his life to supply water To the dry & desert goldfields. Criticized & called a crocodile imposter– He was an Irish engineer from County Meath His name was CY O’Connor (AND)As I look at the waves beat his statue I see a man looking after the people of his nation That burning dry desert of Western Australia He took his own life at this beach Riding his horse into the surf He held a gun (and) he shot himself When the water finally flowed Less than a year from his death I hope the carpers felt ashamed O’Connor, may you rest in peace His name was CY O’Connor As I look at the waves beat his statue A man looking after the people of his nation that burning dry desert of Western Australia lyrics by The Healys The Eyes of the Engineer Looking out over the harbour There’s a statue thinking in bronze One of the far- sighted ones with a vision clear And he’s gazing at life in the harbour The extent of his enterprise Watching the world through the eyes of the engineer And he’s taking in the speed of the progress The transport and trade there has been The ships that have coloured the scene over all these years And it’s all a result of his labours Though they slandered and criticized He looked to the future through the eyes of the engineer And the work was so hard when they blasted the bar But the critics proved harder to move There was so much more to be shifted on shore Before things could begin to improve And we’ve taken the harbour for granted But we soon came to realise The strength of the vision in the eyes of the engineer And he’s welcomed all the new arrivals New countries new stories new themes Suitcases filled up with dreams to be planted here And he’s so much a part of this story Just a statue standing serene Still surveying the scene through the eyes of the engineer He looked to the future through the eyes of the engineer (Bernard Carney) C.Y.O’Connor, I Wish You Were Here Water was scarce, people couldn’t go on Searching for gold in the blazing sun Goldfields life was at its worst Many died from typhoid, some died of thirst, C Y O’Connor delivered a plan To build a pipeline through rocks and sand Helena River would be the start Where water would flow to the goldfields heart. Ch. What would he say if he came back today that great engineer Having no doubt his plan would work, C Y O’Connor I wish you were here To see water pumped from Mundaring Weir. The longest pipe-line the world had seen In by gone days it was just a dream People said it couldn’t be done But O’Connor and his men proved them wrong, From Mundaring on through Southern Cross Reaching the reservoir at Mt Charlotte Days were long, rewards were few Some-how they would see it See it through. Ch. What would he say if he came back today that great engineer Having no doubt his plan would work, C Y O’Connor I wish you were here To see water pumped from Mundaring Weir. Came that memorable day in nineteen hundred and three When water, clear water flowed endlessly To O’Connor now we pay our due He made that goldfields dream Dream come true. What would he say if he came back today that great engineer Having no doubt his plan would work. A final note made it clear, saying “Put the wing walls to Helena Weir” A final note made it clear, saying “Put the wing walls to Helena Weir" I wish you were here. Carmel Charlton, 2002 ANY MORE???!!! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: GUEST,Susan Downes Date: 09 Mar 25 - 05:58 AM I was looking for the date of release of Blackthorne's tape as I have just found a lovely poster for it. The three band members were Ray Downes, my late husband, Ken Fergusson and Alan Clarke. Sadly all have passed away. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 09 Mar 25 - 08:38 PM Sorry Susan, I was never lucky enough to get a copy! Only know that it must be pre 2002, going on Bruce Watson's post above of June 2002. Perhaps try an enquiry to the NLA in Canberra?? G'Luck! R-J |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 09 Mar 25 - 10:48 PM R-J the Bruce who contributed in 2002 later joined up as Bruce D. He was/is a BMC member, not the famous Bruce Watson. sandra |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kalgoorlie Pipeline From: rich-joy Date: 10 Mar 25 - 06:35 AM Aha! Thanks for that, Sandra!! R-J |
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