Chapter 2: A Country Wedding

Mudgee

January 7, 1982

Fiona and I had packed our clothes for the weekend the night before, and put them in my car; I also put my acoustic / electric guitar and practice amp in, just out of habit. We woke up early, around 5, and after a quick breakfast we were on the road. I planned to take the Epping Highway, then Pennant Hills Road, skirt around Parramatta then get on Old Windsor Road. We would take Bells Line of Road over the mountains to Lithgow, which was a faster drive that talking the Great Western Highway, through all the towns and villages of the Blue Mountains. The total drive should be four and a half hours, more or less, not counting stops.

The traffic was pretty light, after an hour we stopped to stretch our legs at the lookout at Kurrajong Heights. We could see most of the Sydney Basin stretched out to the east. Some of the lower-lying areas were still shrouded in fog; but we could see the sun rising over the ocean, and it would soon burn any remaining mist away. I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend; the two weeks since my birthday and getting the house had been utter chaos.

First was Christmas Day; we had quite a few people around for lunch. My family, Jack and Chris Earle, Allison and her family. Plus quite a few others dropped in at various times throughout the day. Then on Boxing Day a bunch of us went up to the Earle’s place so I could drive the boat down to the Harbour, for the start of the Sydney to Hobart race. Jack was sailing on ‘Ragamuffin’ again, and we wanted to see him off. There was a huge fleet, over 150 boats, and all but 16 of them finished. Rags came in 24th across the line, finishing in a group of five boats all within a minute or so; but on handicap they came in 77th.

Things were a little bit quieter for two days, until we started a four night gig at the Antler, including New Year’s Eve, when we played until 2:00 a.m. We had just finished a three night set of gigs at Checkers, and I was looking forward to spending some time relaxing and sleeping in.

“Feel like having second breakfast in Lithgow?” I asked Fiona.

“Sounds good to me; although I love the view here, we probably should get back on the road.”

We hadn’t gone all that far when Fiona started talking.

“I guess I need to explain more about why I asked you along, and how I want you to pretend to my family and Deidre that you’re my boyfriend.”

“Yeah, the more I know, the less likely I am to say something and screw things up,” I said.

“Okay, let me give you some background on my family,” she said. “Originally my great-great grandfather was moderately successful in the goldfields around Hill End and Sofala during the gold rush in the 1850’s, and when he decided he had done enough mining, he bought some land just north of Mudgee, on the Cudgegong River. That passed down to his son, and eventually my grandfather. My Uncle Frank – Dee’s father – was the second oldest child, and my mother was his younger sister. She married my father, who lived on a nearby farm, and they were living there when first my brother, Jim, and then I were born. I was seven when my father was killing in a tractor accident; my mother blamed his parents for getting him to work late after dark; apparently he was driving the tractor back home in the dark, and didn’t see a big gully, and drove into that causing it to flip over, and was crushed underneath it. They blamed my mother for encouraging him to come back to the house for lunch, and he didn’t finish the ploughing or something. It was all very ugly in any case, they completely cut off all contact with us.

“Anyway, as a result she had to leave and moved back to her parent’s farmhouse. It is a huge place, as well as my grandparents, my uncles and aunts and of their kids – my cousins - lived there as well. Anyway, Dee – Deidre – is the same age as me, and we would play together. But soon everything became a competition for her; she had to prove that she was better than me. We lived there until my mother remarried; my step-father is in the Air Force, and we moved to Canberra, where they still live. I went to a Catholic Girl’s High School, Braddon Catholic Girls High School, which was so much better than the Catholic School in Mudgee; St Matthews.

“Canberra was so much more exciting that Mudgee, too, so much more to do, and the boys weren’t so much jerks. I didn’t have my first real boyfriend until I got to Canberra. Dee, of course, had a different boyfriend every month! And never failed to tell me all about what she would do with them, in great detail, making me feel that no boy would ever want me. Of course she developed breasts before I did, and hers were bigger, too. Anyway, I shouldn’t go on about her, I’ll start to sound like a real bitch.

“Anyway, that’s most of the background; does that help you understand where I’m coming from? I hope this weekend I can show her and my family that I have made a success of things so far in my life. I’m not some unattractive, undesirable girl that no guy would want to be with. When our single came out last year, with me singing on it, they couldn’t believe that it was me doing that, that I was good enough at singing to make a hit record. So, what should we tell them about us? I mean, have we been out on dates before, things like that. We need to get our stories straight, so not to get caught out.”

“So, who would have made the first move? You or me?” I asked.

“Oh, me, I think,” she replied. “I asked you out for dinner back at the start of December – I did wait a decent time after Janelle died, of course. We have known each other for about eighteen months, of course, in the band, and had got to know each other well during that time.”

“Sounds pretty reasonable. What restaurant?”

“What was that one you went to where there was the fire? Flannigan’s?”

“Yeah – but no fire this time. We both had the grilled barramundi, had a table by the window with views to the city. Now, I assume we kissed after that? But have we gone to bed and had sex yet?” I asked.

“Kissing, of course,” she said, smirking. “But we haven’t slept together yet, that’s saved for this weekend.”

“Okay, let me ask a question or two. It seems that your whole family are good Catholics, so how come it seems to be accepted that we can sleep together?” I asked. “And what level of ‘public affection’ between us will be accepted? Can I hold your hand? Put an arm around you? Kiss you on the lips? I don’t want to offend anyone, or cause problems for you.”

“Well, sure, we are Catholics – but have you heard of the term ‘RC’ – Retired Catholic? That’s more like what we are. Sure, we go to church every so often, attend mass, but that’s about it. I mean, I’m on the pill, which is contrary to Catholic rules. It was my uncle that suggested I have a room with you. And public displays of affection, even kissing – but not wild French kissing – will be okay. I will love it if you hold my hand, or kiss my lips in public. Not just to show others that you are my ‘boyfriend’, but ... well, I enjoy that.”

“And if we are going to sleep together, and have sex, do I need to stop and get condoms?” I asked.

“Hell no! I refuse to use those stupid things,” she replied. “You won’t need to worry, I’m on the pill. I used condoms once, but never again.”

“Now you realize that you and I haven’t actually kissed yet,” I said. “Maybe we need to do something about that? Practice it, so when we actually do it, with others watching, we won’t make a big mess of it, or get all embarrassed or anything.”

We had just started to descent the steep hill into Lithgow, and the lookout was just off to the left. I turned in there, stopped in a parking space, and suggested we practice some kissing.

“We want to make sure we know what we’re doing,” I said.

“Absolutely, we should practice now,” she replied.

We both got out of the car, and walk to the edge of the lookout, against the low stone wall. I wrapped my arms around Fiona’s body, and pulled her close to me. Her head was tilted up, and her lips parted slightly. The tip of her tongue flicked around her lips, moistening them, and she held me tightly.

“Kiss me, Will,” she said. “Kiss me as if it were the last time.”

“I hope we won’t be like Rick and Ilsa,” I said, recognizing the ‘Casablanca’ quote Fiona was referring to.

I placed a hand on the back of her head, and pulled our faces together. Our lips touched, and I felt her tongue move forward, touching the tip of my tongue. She placed her hand on the back of my head, and pressed us harder together. Kissing her was particularly nice; somehow her body felt moulded against mine, and we kissed for what seemed like an eternity. It was actually less than a minute until she broke the kiss, panting slightly.

“Oh wow!” she exclaimed. “I would suggest we need more practice, but...”

Her voice was muffled as I pressed her lips against mine, this time her hand was on my backside, pressing our groins together. She started to squirm against me, and I could feel my prick starting to respond. Before things got out of hand, I broke the kiss. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was breathing heavily

“If we practice any more, we will never get to Mudgee. Or end up arrested for public indecency,” I said. “Now, I guess kissing you like that in public, with your family around may not be completely acceptable?”

“Oh my God, no! But in private, more please! But if we keep doing that now, I’m going to need to change my panties!”

“Maybe we can just kiss like this when others are around,” I said, giving her a chaste peck on the lips. “That will be safer!”

“I think so ... any more of those earlier kisses, and I would be ripping your clothes off!”

“Now, how about second breakfast?” I said, and we got back in the car.

We drove down the hill, and into Lithgow proper. There was a little café off the main road, close to the railway line, and we stopped there, getting a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. I was hoping they would have the American style ‘home fries’, but that was probably too much to expect in a country NSW town. Still what we had was good, and after a quick pit stop in the bathrooms, we were back on the road.

“You told me a bit about your family, the farm and all that. How did your uncle come to own the pub?” I asked, once we had turned off the main Great Western Highway onto the road to Mudgee. “I’m not sure how your Uncle can run the farm and the pub...”

“Oh, my mother’s family was bigger than that; remember back then my grandparents were good Catholics. There were five kids in her family; her oldest brother, Patrick runs the farm, he has three sons, plus two daughters. Then there was Frank; Dee’s father, and she has two older brothers, too. Then my mother, Colleen, and two younger sisters, Mary and Claire. Her two sisters are married, one is living in Bathurst, the other in Orange. But the pub was originally purchased by my grandfather’s younger brother, when they returned from World War One; but he died without any kids, so because Pat was running the farm for my grandfather, Frank took over the pub.”

She then proceeded to tell me about a seeming never-ending string of aunts and uncles, cousins, and the whole extended Mahon clan. Thank goodness for the new radio cassette player; I put a cassette in, and tuned out from Fiona’s family saga. There were all sorts of stories; kids who had run away from home, or teenage pregnancies, drunken abusive husbands, some older teenagers jailed for draft-dodging. I was happy to let her talk, it made the miles go quickly. It was a ‘two cassette’ drive from Lithgow to Mudgee; by the time my cassette recording of the Moody Blues ‘Seventh Sojourn’ was almost finished, we were just entering into the outskirts of Mudgee.

Fiona gave me directions to the pub that we were staying in – the Oriental Hotel – and told me to drive in around the back to the employee parking area. I parked in a vacant space, and she led me inside the building. We walked up to the main office, and she asked the woman inside where Frank was.

“Fiona! You’re here for Dee’s wedding, I guess. You probably don’t remember me, Velma Carmichael, I was one of your mother’s school friends,” the office woman said. “Your Uncle is in the dining room, with everyone else.”

Fiona thanked Velma, and led me into the dining room. There were several tables all pushed together, and a bunch of people sitting there. Fiona introduced me to everyone, I tried my best to match names and faces, and we sat down.

“Fiona! Hi there, and you must be Will. Was it a good drive up?” Frank asked me. “Which way did you go over the mountains, the highway or Bells road?”

I told him that I would usually take Bells Line of Road, rather than the highway, and that it was a pretty good trip, not much traffic. I mentioned stopping at a great café in Lithgow for breakfast.

“We’re glad that you could come up with Fee,” he said. “We’ve all been looking forward to meeting you.”

Now, in my mind that meant one of two things; they wanted to check me out to make sure that I was ‘suitable’ to be part of the family, or they were curious about who Fiona would have chosen as a boyfriend. I guess I would have to try – for Fiona’s sake at least – to impress her family members.

“There’s going to be a buffet lunch for everyone at noon,” Frank said. “Do you two want to freshen up before we eat; there’s plenty of time. Did Velma give you your room key? All of the upgraded rooms were taken, so you’ve got an older room, without a private bathroom, I’m sorry. But it does have a large, queen sized bed in it.”

Fiona and I went back to the office and got the key to our room, then took our luggage upstairs to the room. It was a nice, light room on the upper level, doors led out to the balcony that ran around the two sides facing the streets. Fiona put her bag on the floor, and flopped down on the bed.

“Well, what do you think of our room for the next few nights?” she asked. “The bed is large, and feels comfortable. When should we test it out? Now or wait until tonight?”

“I would prefer taking lots of time, and I’m feeling a bit hot and sweaty from the drive up. Do you mind if I just have a shower now, and we can christen the bed tonight?”

“I agree; I was just teasing you. Tonight will be fine ... a pity we don’t have our own shower in this room, or we could shower together right now. Although there are only three rooms that don’t have private baths, so our chances of anyone coming into the showers while we are there is pretty slim ... Maybe tonight we could shower together?”

I unpacked my bag, putting my clothes in the closet and hanging my suit up. At some stage I would need to get an iron and ironing board to press my shirt, but that could wait until Saturday. I grabbed my toilet bag, towel, and a robe, and headed off to take a shower. When I got back to the room, Fiona wasn’t there; I assumed she was having her shower, so I took off my robe, and put some clean clothes on. A few minutes after I had dressed, Fiona returned, also wearing clean clothes.

“You were quick,” she said.

“Just as well than you were still in the shower when I got back here,” I said, “that made it easy for me to get dressed.”

“So I missed seeing you naked?” she said. “Damn, I was looking forward to that!”

“We’ve both seen each other naked before,” I said. “You’ll get your chance later tonight, if you behave.”

“And if I don’t behave?”

“Then we will see what happens ... come on, let’s get down to lunch.”

As we walked along the hallways to the stairs, I took hold of Fiona’s hand. She didn’t say anything, but just squeezed my hand as we walked down the stairs. A few more people were at the tables in the dining room; a young woman about Fiona’s age who I assumed was Deidre was sitting there with her father, Frank.

“Fee!” she called out. “You’re here!”

The two girls embraced and kissed each other on the cheek.

“I can’t believe you were actually singing live on ‘Countdown’ the other month, it was so cool! And I bought copies of your singles and albums, too!”

They hugged and kissed a while, and then she noticed me.

“And you must be Will! That’s so cool, not only is my cousin a big rock star, but she’s dating one!”

She gave me hug, and kissed me on the cheek. It was easy to see that Dee and Fee (I liked that naming pair) were related; they had similar colouring, their faces were the same, hair was almost identical. Deidre had slightly larger breasts, maybe about a medium size. They were both the same height; around five foot two; whatever that was in centimetres. They could easily have passed for sisters, even twins.

Fiona and I sat down at the table, opposite Frank and his wife (was her name Nola? I couldn’t remember, I would have to ask Fiona to refresh my memory). Lunch was a buffet style, mainly salads, fruit, cold meats, we wandered across to the servery, put some food on our plates and returned to our seats.

“So, what’s the plan for the weekend?” Fiona asked. “What times are the fittings and the rehearsal?”

“After we’ve had lunch, we need to get around for the fitting,” Deidre said. “Will may not want to hang around with us for that. But your parents, Jim and his girlfriend should be here later this afternoon, they are driving up from Canberra today. I guess they will want the two of you to join them for dinner tonight.”

“What did you want to do this arvo, Will?” Fiona asked. “You don’t have to hang around while we get fitted for the dresses, and they make adjustments and all that stuff.”

“I might just do some guitar practice; I’ve got my guitar and amp up in the room, take advantage of the time off,” I said.

“You should set up in the corner of the back bar and play there,” Deidre said. “What do you think, Dad, would people like to hear some live music? What could you play, Will, just by yourself?”

“I could play and sing some folk music; years ago I did some live solo gigs at various places in Sydney.”

“I could call a guy I know at 2MG, they could publicise it on the radio,” she said. “We would get a lot of people coming down, what do you think?”

“Could be good for business,” Frank said. “It’s up to Will, I mean, he’s a professional musician, and he might not want to provide free entertainment. You’re asking a lot of him, Dee, you shouldn’t put him on the spot like that. Now he’s going to feel an obligation to perform, free of charge. That’s being a bit unfair to him.”

“No, Frank, I don’t mind at all, I mean, you’re providing me with accommodation and meals while I’m up here, I can just put my guitar case in front of me, and those listening can toss in a tip if they want. I like doing that, it should be fun. When I’ve finished lunch, I’ll set up in the corner of that bar; all I’ll need is a chair. I guess there’s a power outlet I can plug the amp into.”

“As long as you are happy doing that, Will,” Frank said. “When we’ve finished lunch, I’ll help get things set up. You call the radio station, Dee, tell them we have live entertainment, a special rock star all the way from Sydney, playing from two until whenever this afternoon.”

After lunch was finished, Fiona and I went up to our room, and I started to sort out my equipment. As well as my guitar and amp, in the gear bag were some leads, my foot pedals, and two microphones and stands. There were also some copies of various song sheets; words with chords written above them, I quickly went through and pulled out the folk music ones.

“Can I help set things up?” she asked. “I don’t have to be at the dress fitting until after three.”

We carried things downstairs, and between the two of us we got the mikes set up and connected to the amp, along with my effects pedals. At one end of the room was a small platform – calling it a ‘stage’ was doing a disservice to the word. But it was raised up about 20 centimetres off the floor, and there was enough room for a small group, maybe four or five people to set up and play. Frank had found an extension lead for me to use, along with a suitable padded stool. Once we had everything connected, I did a quick test of the sound levels – I didn’t want it too loud so that I would drown out conversation in the bar. Using the new digital tuner, I could press the footswitch that cut the output to the amplifier, and check the tuning of each string. It was surprisingly quick and easy, and in a matter of seconds the guitar was in tune, a process that would often take me a minute or more.

“Takes all the fun out of it!” Fiona said.

It was close to the two p.m. starting time, and there were already quite a few people in the bar. Deidre came up to us, and told us that she had contacted the local radio station, and they had already made several announcements about me being at the pub.

“They were talking about sending a van around to do a live broadcast, too,” she said. “But if you don’t want them to do that, just say so.”

I couldn’t think of any reason why not to agree to the live broadcast, it was all good publicity for the album. I organized the music sheets into some sort of order; the Irish and English fold music for one set, then some Australian tunes for another set. I then made a list of what modern songs I knew without needing the words or music.

“G’day, Mudgee, my name is Will Morris,” I said. “I’m one member of the Sydney blues rock band, the Roberttones, and it’s my pleasure to be able to entertain you this afternoon. Now, normally I would have a bunch of other people up on stage with me, and all sorts of sound and lighting engineers to make me look and sound half decent, but it’s just me and a guitar here today.

“Now, since it’s just me playing, I thought I would play a selection of folk songs; some traditional Irish and English songs, and then some traditional Aussie folk songs – not that imported cowboy rubbish that some people sing. So, let’s see how we go, we’ll kick things off with some traditional Irish songs about some of the ways the early Irish settlers came to Australia; some as convicts, for seven, or fourteen years, or ‘the term of his natural life. So, we can start with a song about a young Irishman transported for burglary when he was set up by a woman; the ‘Black Velvet Band’.”

By the time I was halfway through the song, I noticed several people were singing along; I encouraged them to join in during the chorus. It didn’t take long before everyone in the bar was singing along; I extended the song, repeating a number of the verses.

“Well, not everyone was transported to the colonies,” I said. “Quite a few came of their own free will, looking for a better life, or gold, or both. The next song is about a bricklayer who quits his job, and immigrates to ‘The Shores of Botany Bay’, not that people actually went to Botany Bay, but it sounds good in the song.”

After playing through ‘The Shores of Botany Bay’, which seemed to go down pretty well, it was time for some Australian songs.

“Now, it’s interesting just how many of the old Australian folk songs are about sheep and shearing,” I said. “The most well-known one is probably ‘Click Goes the Shears’, but there are several others all about shearers and sheep.”

I sang a few more songs; ‘All Among the Wool’, Ryebuck Shearer’, ‘Click Go the Shears’, ‘Lime juice Tub’, ‘Lachlan Tigers’ and ‘The Road to Gundagai’. By the time I had finished that set, Fiona and Deidre had returned; Dee got drinks for us all from the bar, and the two of them came over to sit with me.

“We were listening into the live broadcast,” Fiona said. “You’re sounding pretty good!”

“You should join me for the final set,” I said. “There’s a microphone set up for you, I think we might do some of the earlier ones a second time, they were pretty popular.”

“Yeah, go on, Fee,” Deidre said. “I want to see you performing!”

“You know all of these, don’t you, Fiona?” I checked with her. “Feel up to it?”

I showed her the lyric sheets that I had, she agreed that she would be able to sing some of them with me. After a brief introduction, we sang several of the songs from the first set together; ‘Black Velvet Band’ was just as popular. When we had finished the set, Fiona pointed out four people standing to the side of the room.

“My parents and brother are here,” she said. “Let me introduce you to them.”

I put my guitar in its stand, and we walked across to where her family was waiting. There was no doubting the older woman was Fiona’s mother, she looked like a forty-something year old clone of Fiona. I was introduced to her parents – Dennis and Colleen – and her brother, Jim. Finally, Jim introduced his girlfriend, Yvonne Dillon to me. Yvonne looked to be around my age, and had long (obviously) dyed blonde hair. Fiona’s parents were very impressed with her singing, even her brother gave her grudging praise.

“You two should play again this evening,” Deidre said. “That was so cool seeing you up there with Will, Fee. I’ll clear it with Dad, don’t worry.”

“I’m sure you want to have dinner with us, Will,” Dennis said. “I think Frank has set up a table for us in the Dining room.”

I told him that sounded like a great idea, I would just go up to my room to change my shirt. I collected the tips that had been placed in my guitar case; a bit over fifty dollars, which I thought was good for a few hours playing. I had just taken my shirt off, and was about to go to over to the bathroom to wipe myself down with a wet cloth when Fiona came into the room.

“That was so cool, us singing together like that,” she said. “Do you want to do that again tonight? I know it’s not much of a break for you.”

“Yeah, we can do that, it’s all good practice for us,” I said. “I’ll bring all of my score sheets down to dinner and we can work out what we could do. Let me just go and have a leak, and freshen up so I can get changed for dinner. We don’t want to be up here too long, or your parents will think we are up here having sex!”

“And what do you think they will be thinking we are doing during each night, when we are sharing the one bedroom?” she asked. “They assume we have already had sex, so...”

I had a quick wash, came back to the room and put a clean shirt on, grabbed my folder of sheet music, and we went back downstairs to find the table with the others. Over dinner, I was gently questioned by Fiona’s parents, everything from what I was researching at University, whether I wanted a fulltime career in music, what the process for recording and releasing an album was, and whether I would become a ‘professor’ once I completed my PhD.

“Well, becoming a professor is really a long term aim,” I said. “It’s not like a typical job promotion sequence, from a Lecturer, to Senior Lecturer, then an Associate Professor and finally Professor. It’s a recognition that you have a solid history of not just conducting your own new research, but you can guide others in the research process.

“When a person is appointed ‘Professor’, several things happen; first you get tenure, which makes it virtually impossible to get fired. I guess that was done so that even if your research offended the powers that be – governments, the church, whoever – you wouldn’t get punished, so you were free to come up with whatever conclusions your research led to. And secondly, at UNSW at least, you are appointed to the ‘Professorial Board’, which is like the main policy making group of the University. The board approves all courses and subjects, sets research priorities, and approves new expansion, things like that.

“Some lecturers go through their whole careers never being appointed ‘Professor’; it’s not that they aren’t any good at lecturing, or teaching. It’s all about what research work they have done, how they are regarded by their peers around the world, and things like that.”

“So, do you think you will become a Professor, in time?” Colleen asked.

“Hard to say,” I replied. “It also depends on whether the University feels the need for someone at that level in my area of expertise. Some faculties and schools have a very high professor to lecturer ratio, others not so much. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see; of course I need to get my PhD first, and then take things from there. At least the field of computer communications is a rapidly growing area; with lots of potential for new research topics.”

As the dinner progressed, I felt that I was passing the test they had set for me, to see whether I was ‘suitable’ as a partner for Fiona. At one stage during the test – I mean, conversation – Fiona placed her hand on my thigh and squeezed gently; since that was below the table top, no one could see what she did. I reached over, under the table, and squeezed her hand.

After we had finished the meal, Fiona and I went through the possible songs that we could perform that evening. She wanted to do ‘Walking Home’; I felt we could do a good acoustic version of that. I suggested we do ‘I Got You Babe’ as a duet, she protested, saying ‘That’s what you and Megan did, I couldn’t do that with you’. I told her that Megan was long gone, and we should do it together. Eventually we had a list that would fill two sets; each lasting just over an hour. I included ‘Fast Woman on a Slow Train’, ‘Treat Her Right’, and several other of our more popular ones.