Comment and Opinion

Fair Dinkum Radio

The crazy runs deep (24/11/2012)
During the week I was told that Meryl Dorey from the Australian Vaccination Network was to appear on a radio program, possibly to discuss matters which related to an ongoing court case that is of interest to me. The radio station is called Fair Dinkum Radio and exists only on the Internet. For those not familiar with the intricacies of the Australian language, "fair dinkum" is one of those expressions (like the German "Schadenfreude") which takes a lot of words to describe to a non-native speaker, but essentially it means "in accordance with the spirit and ethos of being a true Australian". Calling someone "fair dinkum" is high praise and means the person can be trusted with your wife (but not necessarily your daughter), your ute and your beer.

I haven't listened to the entire broadcast yet so I won't comment on what Ms Dorey had to say, but the first part was an unhinged rant by the show's host about the mass of conspiracies that are all around us. If I tell you that he likes UNESCO but hates the UN and he thinks that the Australian Commonwealth is a private corporation you might get an impression of his grasp on reality.

What I did notice, however, that the show used some iconic Australian music to reinforce it's fair dinkum qualifications. I wondered if the composers of these tunes were aware of their songs appearing as parentheses around alternating floods of mouth foam and flashes of white hot burning stupid.

The first piece of music was Rolf Harris's "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport", a song that every Australian child learns at his mother's knee before attending kindergarten. I wrote to Rolf through his web site:

I was rather surprised to hear a totally crazy online radio program using "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" as its theme. As Rolf never struck me as an insane conspiracy theorist I assume the music is being used without permission. You can listen to the programs at fairdinkumradio.com

Thank you (and thank you to Rolf for the decades of entertainment.)

And his music publisher replied (the man with his finger on the copyright button):

Dear Peter

Thank you so much for your email and the information, we will certainly look into this.

You're absolutely right, "a conspiracy theorist" is certainly a title that doesn't apply to Rolf.

Again thank you for getting in touch and I send my very best wishes.

Grahame

The next musical interlude was "True Blue" by John Williamson. I think this is a bit dirge-like, but apparently Australians go weak at the knee and wet at the eye when they hear this outside the country. It actually contains the words "fair dinkum". My email to John was similar to the one sent to Rolf.

I was rather surprised to hear a totally crazy online radio program using what sounds a lot like "True Blue" as a theme. As John never struck me as an insane conspiracy theorist I assume the music is being used without permission. You can listen to the programs at fairdinkumradio.com

Thank you (and thank you to John for the years of entertainment.)

And this is what his manager had to say:

Hi Peter,

Thank you for letting us know. I personally believe it is a misuse but have sent onto John's lawyer to review and then advise our next course of action. Thanks for looking out for John, I know he would appreciate it as do I! Cheers,

David

A lawyer is involved! Wonderful. My work here is done.