Midst the stack of purchases from the latest annual bookfest on Magnetic Island was The Victorian Drama League 1952-2002 by Robert E. Glass , foreword by Charles Tingwell , a presentation copy by the author to some island friends.
Thinking this book may have indicated these friends had a secret involvement with dramatic productions when they lived in Melbourne , I called at their leafy residence , a koala bear heard grunting nearby from time to time, a Curlew sitting on eggs .
In answer to a question , the husband denied he and his wife had trod the amateur theatrical boards in earlier days . However , he admitted that while he was studying German in Melbourne , he once stood up and was instructed to say he was God .
Standing at the front door of his island home , with a flowing beard which made him appear God-like, a bit scruffy , he firmly repeated his line from yesteryear : Ich bin Gott ! Then he brought the house down by saying that on another occasion he had told two risqué jokes in German .
Other items of interest bought at the bookfest , held at the kindergarten , included two worn, silverfished editions of the Deakin University magazine , Mattoid , 1979 and 1981 , dealing with poetry, prose and graphics ; Speaking of Home , Poetic Relections on the Pacific Islands by Professor William C. Clarke , University of Otago , New Zealand , which contains a number of impressive colour plates by Pacific artists , poems dealing with a wide range of subjects , including corruption , tourism , cruise ships , impact on the environment , logging , American and French nuclear testing in the Pacific, a conclusion which says more detail could be provided about the troubles of the South Pacific today , ending with a poem about the Fiji tensions.
