THE BETHLEHEM PUB

1. A country pub is not a proper place for women,
the last place on earth to try and have a kid.
So when Mary and her tired old man arrived that night I rustled up a bed of straw out in the shed.

2. I run the country pub in Outback Bethlehem,
a home away from home for stockmen interstate.
For when the picnic races stir the dust out here
a man will ride a hundred miles to meet his mate. (music bridge)

3. The pub In Bethlehem is rough as honed-head toads,
and what I’ve seen would turn a shearer green and white; like the time young Bill fought Blue, the old man kangaroo till beer, and blood, and fur flowed down the street.

4. I’ve seen men drive their horse in for a drink or two,
and with their stockwhip clear the beer-glass of its foam
while Fred, the pet galah, whose language turned the air dark blue,
would screech his old refrain, ‘Well, stone the flamin’ crows’. (music bridge)

5. You should have heard the cursing from the stockmen when I said,
‘We have a pregnant woman with the horses in the stalls’.
You should have seen them drinking, mate, and heard them sing off-key: ‘Why was he born so beautiful, why was he born at all? (music bridge)

6. At first I also wondered if Mary’s child belonged out here.
He may as well be born among the mulga bush out back.
Yet Mary seemed a sister to all who found her in the shed
and Jesus seemed a brother to drinkers, drovers, blacks. (music bridge)

ALWS 5/10/23

To say I've been inactive on my website is a serious understatement! I've written nothing here since early 2021. 

So, does this mean the world has stopped for us, that nothing is happening?
A major event for us in 2022 was moving house in October. We had been in Modbury Heights since July 1993.Now we're back in Klemzig.

In May we travelled to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, seeing work supported by Australian Lutheran World Service. Dorothy and I are Ambassadors for the ALWS programme, Lives You Touch. We are encouraging people to leave money in their will for the work of ALWS. We committed to leave a third of our will many years ago and hope many others can touch lives in this way.
Since then we have visited Box Hill & Loxton with Jonathan & Julie Krause as part of the Asante presentations, promoting the cause of ALWS. Still to come this year are Asante events in Toowoomba & Rochedale (Nov 26 & 27) and Perth (Dec 10)

Looking forward to seeing many people on these occasions.