John Durack: Michael Durack.
Michael Durack:
Well Mother and Dad, I think a lot of what I'd sort of love to go over again John has pre-empted, as he pre-empted a few things in my life, in getting there first. Which I could have easily repeated of course.
But it is wonderful to think back on all of the things that have gone on, a lot of them without almost realising they were going on until you can look back and say, 'Oh that's probably, apart from Kim's philosophy, but that's got a lot to do with why I'm like what I'm like.' And as with a lot of plans, it doesn't always work out exactly the way you'd expect it, because I don't think I'm really terribly methodical and planning like Dad, but in a sort of a way I know I'd like to be. I can certainly see the benefits of it.
I think probably the most wonderful thing for me to have Mother and Dad as my Mother and Dad, and I can see it with Matthew, or perhaps it's something Matthew's sort of thinking about in the same way, is an enormous feeling of confidence, probably because of how far back and how far forward and how far left and right I can think of myself with all of the things that go on in everyone's life. The stories that John spoke about, of Mother's brothers and sisters and Dad's brothers and sisters, of what they did and what they achieved and what they were like and what their plans were. I remember Dad's brother David was always involved in some very big thing, and it was big, it was certainly very big when I was thinking about it, but now I can see that that was what he was like. And Kim, although I didn't know him very well, was involved I think in probably very sort of complex plans of things that now I start to understand. Of course Mary and Elizabeth are just sort of fantastic people to be associated with.
And from Mother's side, the same sort of thing: Maurice and Jack and Mary and Jess fleshed out a huge span of stories and memories and things that were being done and getting done, and all of their families are still there, and the same sorts of things are going on.
Perhaps a little bit unrealistically, all of us Duracks have been subjected - not subject to, but involved in the huge sort of history making projects of Mary and the books, and the whatevers. But the same sort of thing occurred, or appeared in the Brahams and the Harris households, that they always wanted to understand how people got to the point that they'd got to, and that understanding how they'd got there meant that they could understand where they were going in the future.
I must thank Dad for getting certain things very much straightened out for me very early in life, things like cricket, which perhaps - but on the other side of course, Mother's side did have a sporting background which was a little bit of the push-pull for me, but I said to James the other day when he played cricket that there was no real necessity for Duracks to play cricket, and that I think the first time I played cricket, they knew that I wasn't very good, and I went out to bat and was bowled (as the last person in of course) and was bowled straight out, which everyone seemed to think maybe was going to happen anyway. Then I went to do what was called fielding I think, or catching, and the ball was hit to me, and I tried to catch it and it just hit me in the forehead and knocked me out. And I think Dad said something like, 'Yes, cricket's a bit like that.' And I don't think I've ever played cricket again.
And the other one John quickly touched on, to get it quickly out of his system, and I think it is more or less - obviously it didn't get out of John's system. But the business of camping: because I presume that Dad had done a lot of camping by necessity, and could not understand why anyone would even vaguely consider camping for fun. So Dad said, 'Well, you want to go camping? Well go camping.' And we went down to the bottom of the range. John briefly touched on it, but I remember it very clearly: it was in the middle of winter, we went in a car with two blankets, and I think some newspapers, because he said newspapers were good. And I think it might have even been a Wednesday afternoon, I don't think it was necessarily a Saturday or Sunday, it wasn't any special event. We went down, it was probably about -5, and I think we ate some stuff on the ground, some burnt chops, and Dad said, 'Well now we're camping. Go to sleep.' And I don't think we ever asked again.
Dad's involvement with leaves, certainly got that out of my system also. Dad's father must never have told him that leaves will keep coming back if you continually brush them up and put them in the boot. And I have definitely learnt to live with the fact that less of them come back if you don't take them away!
As I said, John has addressed most of the serious topics, and all I can really do is to add more and more of those little anecdotes on top of other things. But feel I should identify the best things that I've managed to get out of being Mother and Dad's son, and from Dad certainly it's a feeling that if you plan well and you keep at it, you can make almost anything come to life, come to being. And that maybe is an architectural sort of thing, but it also has a lot more to do with life, than just the planning. You can do it, if you do it properly.
And then from Mother's side, that it is worthwhile doing things properly, because the rewards of getting something done correctly, benefit everybody. And as Mother said, the rewards of doing something properly are actually fun. Mother's Mother, Mem-Mem, I could certainly see made fun out of doing ordinary things properly and quickly and efficiently. It's not so clear in my Mother that that's what's going on, but it was very clear with Mem-Mem. I mean it's not so clear because it's too close to be able to see those things, but Mem-Mem was just so straightforward about the business of getting on with life and attacking things properly and keeping things simple. I remember once as John said, she had a talk to Matthew, she had a talk to me, with all due respects, to Father Leonard, but she said 'How are things going, Michael?' when I was about 19 I think. 'How are things going?' and I said, 'Oh, good.' And she said, 'Are you going to church still Michael?' and I said, 'Well, not as much as I used to, Mem-Mem.' And she said, 'Oh yes, I can understand, it must be very difficult for a young man like you with all that stuff about the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, wouldn't it be?' As if that would be something that you'd just have to live with for the time being, and then it would all start to become clear later on.
Because from that interaction with all of Dad's brothers and sisters and Mothers, we unfortunately didn't see much of Dad's Mum and Dad, but I'm sure that it left me with the knowledge that you can develop opinions about things, and you can have strong opinions, and you should have opinions, you should think about things, but you should also remember that everyone else does as well, and doesn't necessarily agree with you, and you won't necessarily think exactly that same way all of the time, and all of your life. That things do sort of shift around and change. And it doesn't mean that you have no solid foundation, that there always is a solid stem of solidity that you can always rely on to go back to, and certainly Mum and Dad have been that for me, and always will be.
APPLAUSE
Michael Durack: Now I was going to ask Charlotte to play a little tune on her flute. Charlotte? It's just a little tune, it's for her Grandmother and Grandfather. Now what is this little tune? 'My Heart Will Go On.'
FLUTE PLAYS/APPLAUSE
John Durack: Thank you Charlotte, that was wonderful. The James Durack family; I'm going to let them decide the order.
Share this post