Annie Mullarvey

Booming babies, Blooming babies. Baby Boom in Brunswick.

Where’s he gone now? I forget.  When’s he coming home?

Nappy bucket on the nose, baby playing with her toes,

Toddler gives a mighty squeal.  Ants have found his lunchtime meal.

Pack them off to baby group.  What’s that smell? She’s done a poop.

Seeping down Bonds playsuit leg.  To be anywhere else I would beg.

Babies sprawling on the rug.  Nice-dressed babies wrapped up snug.

My boy isn’t happy it seems. In contrast, Simon, his baby neighbour beams.

COME ON SMILE! my desperate inward plea.

Simon’s mum, a psychologist, looks on with glee. 

‘Oh babies’, I say meekly laughing it off.

 ‘Does he smile much at home?’

Rather than hit her, I decide to cough.

About Annie Mullarvey

Annie is in her mid-60s and cannot imagine living anywhere other than the Municipality of Merri-bek.  She spent her childhood in Glenroy and now lives way up the other end in East Brunswick. 

Over the years, she has worked as an inner urban community worker, a mental health social worker for Merri Community Health, and later for another local organization as counsellor/advocate for refugees and asylum seekers.  She even married a teacher from Moreland High (now defunct), and they raised a family together in Brunswick.

She is passionate about social justice and human rights, and her short stories often reflect this. Annie has recently completed her first fiction novel, ‘No Fences for Joyce.’  The story follows Joyce O’Connor, a young woman rescuing her children and fleeing an abusive and alcoholic husband in Yarrawonga during the 1960s. They eventually settle in Broadmeadows where Joyce is hired by ‘Fenton’s Electronics’ (no relation to the Ericsson company), initially as a factory hand. There she meets her lifelong friends, Rosa from Italy and Maureen from Liverpool, England.  Joyce and her companions are horrified by the frequency at which their female co-workers are developing repetitive strain type injuries due to the unrealistic work practices set by management.  Joyce eventually becomes a shop steward with their union and helps to stage a successful lunchtime rally from the roof of the canteen. Later in the novel, Joyce reconnects with her old school friend, Suzi, and together they help to establish a women’s refuge in Yarrawonga. 

Annie’s dream is to somehow convert this novel into a community play.  To see it travel between Melbourne and Yarrawonga someday, helping to spread awareness about gender-fueled violence, is her idea of pretty darn special. 

Copyright Annie Mullarvey, November 2024. All rights reserved; this intellectual property belongs solely to Annie Mullarvey.