Australian Verse
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THE NEW OXFORD BOOK OF AUSTRALIAN VERSE Chosen by Les A. Murray Melbourne OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford Auckland New York CONTENTS Foreword xxi Sam Woolagoodjah Lalai (Dreamtime) 1 Barron Field (1786—1846) The Kangaroo 6 Richard Whately (1787-1863) There is a Place in Distant Seas 7 Anonymous A Hot Day in Sydney 8 The Exile of Erin 11 Hey, Boys! Up Go We! 12 The Limejuice Tub 13 John Dunmore Lang (1799-1878) Colonial Nomenclature 14 Anonymous Van Diemen's Land 15 The Convicts' Rum Song 16 Hail South Australia! 16 The Female Transport 17 The Lass in the Female Factory 18 Francis MacNamara (Frank the Poet) (b. 1811?) A petition from the chain gang 19 - For the Company underground 22 A Convict's Tour to Hell 23 Robert Lowe (1811-1892) Songs of the Squatters, I and II 28 Charles Harpur (1813-1868) A Basket of Summer Fruit 31 Wellington 32 A Flight of Wild Ducks 33 Henry Parkes (1815-1896) Our Coming Countrymen 34 Aboriginal Songs from the 1850s Kilaben Bay song (Awabakal) 36 VI CONTENTS Women's rondo (Awabakal) 37 Two tongue-pointing (satirical) songs (Kamilaroi) 38 The drunk man (Wolaroi) 38 Anonymous Whaler's Rhyme 38 The Diggins-oh 39 William W. Coxon (?) The Flash Colonial Barman 41 Charles R. Thatcher (1831-1882) Dick Briggs from Australia 42 Taking the Census 45 Moggy's Wedding 46 Anonymous The Banks of the Condamine 48 The Stringybark Cockatoo 49 Henry Kendall (1839-1882) Bell-birds 50 Beyond Kerguelen 51 Anonymous John Gilbert was a Bushranger 53 Jack McGuire (?) The Streets of Forbes 55 E. J. Overbury The Springtime it Brings On the Shearing 55 James Brunton Stephens (1835-1902) The Gentle Anarchist 56 Ada Cambridge (1844-1926) Fashion 57 The Future Verdict 57 The Virgin Martyr 58 Marcus Clarke (1846-1881) The Wail of the Waiter 59 Victor Daley (1858-1905) Mother Doorstep 60 The Woman at the Washtub 61 The Dove 63 J. A. Phelp The Duke of Buccleuch 63 CONTENTS vii Anonymous The Wooyeo Ball 64 W. T. Goodge (1862-1909) How We Drove the Trotter 65 A Bad Break! 66 Federation 67 Mary Gilmore (1863-1962) The Harvesters 68 The Little Shoes that Died 68 The Saturday Tub 69 Andrew Barton Paterson ('The Banjo') (1864-1941) The Travelling Post Office 70 Father Riley's Horse 71 Old Australian Ways 73 Bernard O'Dowd (1866-1953) Cupid 75 Charles W. Hayward (1866-1950) King George V 77 Barcroft Boake (1866-1892) The Digger's Song 77 Louis Lavater (1867-1953) The Barrier 78 Henry Lawson (1867-1922) The English Queen 79 When Your Pants Begin to Go 81 The Men who Come Behind 82 Anonymous The Bastard from the Bush 83 E. G. Murphy ('Dryblower') (1867-1939) The Smiths 85 Mary Fullerton ('E') (1868-1946) A Man's a Sliding Mood 86 Unit 86 Poetry 87 Anonymous Shickered As He Could Be 87 E.J.Brady (1869-1952) The Whaler's Pig 88 viii CONTENTS Christopher Brennan (1870-1932) Sweet silence after bells! 91 Fire in the heavens 91 J. Le Gay Brereton (1871-1933) JJnborn 92 John Shaw Neilson (1872-1942) May 92 Schoolgirls Hastening 93 To the Red Lory 93 Ngunaitponi (David Unaipon) (1873-1967) The Song of Hungarrda 94 Anonymous (Narranyeri people, South Australia) Song: The Railway Train 95 C.J.Dennis (1876-1938) The Traveller 95 Hugh McCrae (1876-1958) The Mimshi Maiden 96 Louis Esson (1879-1943) The Shearer's Wife 98 P. J. Hartigan ('John O'Brien') (1879-1952) The Field of the Cloth of Gold 99 Will Dyson (1880-1938) The Trucker 99 'Furnley Maurice' (Frank Wilmot) (1881-1942) Echoes of wheels... 101 Whenever I have... 102 The Victoria Markets Recollected in Tranquillity 102 'Brian Vrepont' (B. A. Trubridge) (1882-1955) The Bomber 108 Frederic Manning (1882-1935) The Trenches 109 Leaves 110 Anonymous (From the diary of an Australian soldier) 110 Ethel Anderson (1883-1958) Afternoon in the Garden 111 CONTENTS IX Charles Shaw The Search 112 W.J.Turner (1884-1946) Romance 113 Marriage 114 The Dancer 114 Vance Palmer (1885-1959) The Snake 115 The Farmer Remembers the Somme 115 Dorothea Mackellar (1885-1968) Heritage 116 Arms and the Woman 116 Fancy Dress 117 Frederick Macartney (1887-1980) Kyrielle: Party Politics 118 Dunstan Shaw Retrospection 119 Lesbia Harford (1889-1925) Poems: XIV, XXII, LXIX 120 Anonymous Click go the Shears 122 Dinky di 122 Harley Matthews (1889-1968) Women are not Gentlemen 123 James Devaney (1890-1976) Vision 130 Leon Gellert (1892-1977) House-Mates 131 Paul L. Grano (1894-1975) Headlined in Heaven 131 In a Chain-store Cafeteria 132 Max Dunn (1895-1963) O, where were we before time was 133 W. E. Harney (1895-1962) West of Alice 134 Francis Letters (1897-1964) The Inglorious Milton 135 X CONTENTS E. G. Moll (1900-1979) The Bush Speaks 135 Clearing for the Plough 136 Beware the Cuckoo 137 Francis Brabazon Victoria Market 137 Jack Lindsay (b. 1900) Question Time 138 Angry Dusk 139 To my father Norman alone in the Blue Mountains 140 Kenneth Slessor (1901-1971) A Bushranger 140 Metempsychosis 141 Five Bells 142 Robert D. FitzGerald (b. 1902) Copernicus 145 Grace Before Meat 145 The Wind At Your Door 147 Mary Finnin (b. 1906) The Man From Strathbogie 150 Arthur Davies West Paddocks 151 A. D. Hope (b. 1907) A Blason 153 Faustus 154 Parabola 155 Eve Langley (1908-1974) This Year, Before It Ends 157 Harry Hooton (1908-1961) A Sweet Disorder in the Dress 157 Ronald McCuaig (b. 1908) Betty by the.Sea 159 Recitative 160 Au tombeau de mon pere 160 Elizabeth Riddell (b. 1909) Wakeful in the Township 163 Suburban Song 163 The Letter 164 CONTENTS XI William Hart-Smith (b. 1911) Boomerang 165 Golden Pheasant 165 The Inca Tupac Upanqui 166 Ian Mudie (1911-1976) This Land 167 Anonymous The Overlander 168 Hal Porter (1911-1984) Four Winds 169 In a Bed-sitter 170 Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land 171 J. J. Bray (b. 1912) The Execution of Madame du Barry 172 Roland Robinson (b. 1912) Deep Well 173 The Cradle 174 The Creek 175 Aboriginal Oral Traditions Mapooram (related by Fred Biggs) 175 The Star-Tribes (related by Fred Biggs) 176 The Two Sisters (related by Manoowa) 176 The Platypus (related by Dick Donelly) 178 Captain Cook (related by Percy Mumbulla) 179 Central Australian Aboriginal Songs Kangaroos 179 Song of the Progenitor-Hero Anakotarinja 180 The Brother Eagles 181 The Hollow at libalintja Soak 182 Ringneck Parrots • 183 Rex Ingamells (1913—1955) Garchooka, the Cockatoo 183 From The Great South Land 183 Joyce Lee (b. 1913) My Father's Country 185 Firebell for Peace 186 Kenneth Mackenzie (1913-1955) Shall then another 187 Table-birds 188 Caesura 189 xii CONTENTS Douglas Stewart (1913-1985) Leopard Skin 189 A Country Song 190 Terra Australis 191 John Blight (b. 1913) The Coral Reef 193 The Oyster-Eaters 194 Mangrove 194 Joan Aronsten (b. 1914) Ad Infinitum 195 Judith Wright (b. 1915) Nigger's Leap, New England 195 Legend 196 Wings 197 David Campbell (1915-1978) Song for the Cattle 198 Hear the Bird of Day 199 Duchesses 199 David Martin (Ludwig Detsinyi) (b. 1915) Dreams in German 200 Dorothy Auchterlonie (b. 1915) The Tree 201 John Manifold (1915-1985) Fife Tune 202 Makhno's Philosophers 202 Harold Stewart (b. 1915) The Sage in Unison 204 James McAuley (1917-1976) Terra Australis 205 Liberal or Innocent by Definition 206 Because 206 Kath Walker (b. 1920) We Are Going 207 Aboriginal Women's Mourning Songs The blowflies buzz ... 208 All you others, eat... 209 Rosemary Dobson (b. 1920) Country Press 210 CONTENTS xiii The Edge 211 Folding the Sheets. 211 Colin Thiele (b. 1920) Tom Farley 212 Radiation Victim 213 Gwen Harwood (b. 1920) Homage to Ferd. Holthausen 214 Death Has No Features of His Own 214 A Simple Story 215 Max Harris (b. 1921) Message from a Cross 216 Martin Buber in the Pub 217 Nan McDonald (1921-1973) The Hatters 217 Burragorang 218 Lex Banning (1921-1965) Epitaph for a Scientist 220 Apocalypse in Springtime 220 Aranda Native Cat Song Cycle The Great Beam of the Milky Way 222 Geoffrey Dutton (b. 1922) A Finished Gentleman 223 Burning Off 225 Fish Shop Windows 226 Dorothy Hewett (b. 1923) In Moncur Street 227 Nancy Keesing (b. 1923) A Queer Thing 228 Reverie of a Mum 229 Eric Rolls (b. 1923) Bamboo 230 Rain Forest 231 Dog Fight 232 W. N. Scott (b. 1923) Bundaberg Rum 233 David Rowbotham (b. 1924) The Bus-stop on the Somme 234 The Cliff 234 Nebuchadnezzar's Kingdom-Come 235 XIV CONTENTS John Rowland (b. 1925) Canberra in April 235 Miidhu War Dance 237 Pudjipangu Aeroplane 238 Smiler Narautjarri The Witch Doctor's Magic Flight 238 From the Dulngulg Song Cycle Sunrise Sequence 239 W onguri-Mandjigai People Song Cycle of the Moon-Bone 239 Francis Webb (1925-1973) End of the Picnic 246 Airliner 246 Wild Honey 247 Vincent Buckley (b. 1925) Ghosts, Places, Stories, Questions 248 Alan Riddell (1927-1977) At the Hammersmith Palais... 250 Grace Perry (b. 1927) Time of Turtles 250 John Philip (b. 1927) Manly Ferry 251 Robin Gurr Creation 252 R. F. Brissenden (b. 1928) Verandahs 252 Ray Mathew (b. 1929) Seeing St. James's 253 Poem in Time of Winter 254 One Day 255 Bruce Beaver (b. 1929) Letters to Live Poets V 255 The Entertainer 256 Peter Porter (b. 1929) Soliloquy at Potsdam 258 CONTENTS xv What I Have Written I Have Written 259 On First Looking into Chapman's Hesiod 260 R.