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Fabulous Nana Mouskouri on ABC TV Q and A , unfortunately not questioned about Frank Hardy and the songs he wrote for her .
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It would be interesting if reporters ask singer and former EU politician Nana Mouskouri for further information about her relationship with the late Communist author Frank Hardy , especially the songs he wrote for her which she kept but never sang . Does she still have the songs , what were they about, any mention of Australia , landrights , global social issues ?
Before Mouskouri came to Australia on her recent tour , the Melbourne Age ran an article which touched on the close relationship that had once existed between her and Hardy, author of Power Without Glory , a key figure in the Gurindji Northern Territory landrights struggle and a close friend of crusading NT News editor, Jim Bowditch .
During the singer's 1974 visit to Australia , Hardy came to her dressing room, "outraged " about a reported statement she had made about sadness and happiness. Hardy , said the Age , was supposedly upset that a famous singer , wealthy and loved , could presume to pronounce on suffering .
Continuing , the article said Hardy loved her , she wanted him, but feared being consumed by his inexhaustible anger and a sadness that refused consolation.
About a year later, Hardy being in France or England , probably the former , had come
to her at a time when she was splitting up with her husband . Mouskouri said they had become close friends , talked a lot and did not have an affair. Hardy used to ring her at night and read lines he had written and told a reporter he had become a better writer due to his contact with Nana .
The late Darwin Communist activist Brian Manning , during conversations with this writer over the years , often spoke about Frank Hardy in respect of the Gurindji campaign and other issues . He said he had discussed with Hardy his relationship with Mouskouri and gained the impression that it had been fiery... "Frank gave her hell." Little Darwin last year carried a post about a Frank Hardy song backing a Rolf Harris record .
