Ben Scott -
'The Sydney Cove Project'

CD from Australia - NSW

$A25.00 (plus packing & postage)

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These songs are an attempt to fill a gap in Australian folk music. For all the verse and song retelling each stage in Australia’s history, there are few works covering the first few years of European settlement – a time so monumental in the history of this land and its people, so tragic and also so rich with memorable personalities. It is time for us to sing of Bennelong, Ralph Clarke, Patyegorang, William Dawes, Pemulwy, Watkin Tench... and remember. For the indigenous people of Sydney – this is your land.

Ben Scott with
Kate BainChris Gillespie
Garthe JonesRita Woolhouse

l. Black and White Ball (Ben Scott. Lyrics adapted from various journals)
Ben - Guitar, Vocals, Mandolin, Low Whistle / Kate - Backing Vocals / Rita - Cello
When British soldiers met members of the Eora tribe in a cove near present day Manly, the scene was one of mutual curiosity and wariness, tempered with good humour. The result was that "all hands danced together" on the beach. The telling of this story borrows snatches from the journal of one of the Englishmen present. His comment "Its easy to see what ridiculous figures we must appear to these poor creatures" expresses the incongruous mixture of humanity, goodwill, ignorance, curiosity and ingrained racism that seemed to be common to many of the first fleeters.
2. Patyegorang (Ben Scott. Some lyrics adapted from journals by William Dawes)
Ben - Banjo, Vocals, Low Whistle / Kate- Vocals / Chris - Guitar
William Dawes lived on the outskirts of the settlement and had the opportunity to meet the Eora people away from the crowded surrounds of the tent village. His relationship with Patyegorang is only hinted at and there is no way of knowing how involved it was. The small snatches of translation penned by Dawes hint of a shy intimacy between the two.
3. Without You I Cannot Live (Ben Scott. Some lyrics adapted from journals by Ralph Clarke)
Ben - Guitar, Vocals, Bflat whistle, Bodhran / Kate - vocals
Ralph Clark was a young Second Lieutenant when he arrived on the first fleet He was frightened and homesick, and wrote letters constantly to his young wife Alicia. He was frightened of the natives, the insects and the weather. When he did sleep he had vivid, sometimes erotic dreams, which are detailed in his letters.
4. A Child For a Hat (Ben Scott. Some lyrics adapted from journals by Ralph Clarke)
Ben - Guitar, Vocals, Low Whistle / Garthe - Mandolin /Kate - Backing Vocals / Rita - Cello
Ralph Clarke's diaries of several years later show a very different character. He quickly became hardened to life in Sydney and had to develop a level headed approach to communicating with the locals. He was faced with a dilemma when Governor Phillip asked him to go out and capture one of the Eora people.
5. Alicia (Ben Scott)
Kate - Vocals / Ben - Guitar, Backing Vocals, C Whistle, Bodhran / Garthe - Mandolin
When he first arrived in Sydney, Ralph Clarke wrote of the scenes of 'whoredom' he saw in the camp. In his journal of several years later this condemnation of the sexual relations between soldiers and convict women seemed to have vanished and Clarke himself entered into a relationship with a convict woman Mary Branham, fathering a daughter to her.
6 Where's Rose Hill, Where? (Ben Scott. Adapted from journals by Watkin Tench)
Ben - Guitar, vocals, Mandolin, C Whistle, Bodhran /Mount Victoria Currawong Chorus - Backing Vocals
Tench described a journey of discovery that soon became a frustrating experience for all involved, including Boladeree and Colbee.
7. Scrabbling in the Dirt (Ben Scott)
Ben - Guitar, Vocals, Low Whistle, Bodhran /Garthe - Mandolin / Kate - Backing Vocals
The Irish flavour of this song is a reminder that indigenous cultures across the world and throughout history have been similarly forced against their will to accommodate foreign people and customs.
8. Whisper the Rebel Songs (Ben Scott)
Ben - Vocals / Kate - Vocals
Some say that Australian folk music began with the rebel songs that the Irish prisoners brought with them. At first these songs would have been whispered from tent to tent and cell to cell to maintain spirit and resolve.
9. Bennelong (Ben Scott. Lyrics adapted from a letter by Bennelong)
Ben - Guitar, Vocals, Mandolin / Kate - Backing Vocal /Chris - Double Bass
Bennelong was a central character in the drama of early Sydney. His intelligence, energy, ambitiousness and humour seems to permeate every story about the time. This song is based on the only known written work by Bennelong.
10. Sandstone and Saltwater (Ben Scott)
Ben - Banjo, Vocals / Kate - Vocal / Chris - Double Bass, Nylon String Guitar
The astounding scenery of Port Jackson must have been a constant reminder to the first fleeters that they were in a very foreign place. It must have strange that very soon after their arrival a generation of white children emerged who knew nothing else but this world of sandstone and saltwater, and who had their own sense of ownership of the land. The Eora must have recognised this fact - it would have been final proof that the settlers were not going away.
11. Pemulwy (Ben Scott)
Kate - Vocals / Ben - Guitar, Backing Vocals
Some would say that aboriginal people put up little resistance to the settlers, but this is of course untrue. Pemulwy lead the resistance in Sydney for many years.

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