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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Poetry in themes - Pioneering - Convicts and bushrangers - Birds and animals - Towns and people - War - Youth - Time and eternity - Thought and personality.' (Source: WorldCat website)
Notes
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This work is in four parts:
I The Early Days
II The Country
III Humanity
IV Reflections on Life
V Songs and Stories
Contents
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Introduction,
single work
essay
'Poetry in Australia has found itself faced, from the very beginning, with a task of a rather special kind...'
- From Five Visions of Captain Cooki"Two chronometers the captain had,", single work poetry (p. 3)
- By Momba Tracksi"The hearts of the everlasting flowers", single work poetry (p. 4-5)
- Bora Ringi"The song is gone; the dance", single work poetry (p. 5-6)
- The Waradgeri Tribe The Waragery Tribe The Wadgery Tribe The Waradgery Tribei"Harried we were, and spent,", single work poetry (p. 6)
- The Old Prisoni"The rows of cells are unroofed,", single work poetry (p. 7)
- The Cat-o'-Nine-Tails'i"Given the cat, it was not only that he ran", single work poetry (p. 8-9)
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The Wild Colonial Boyi"'Tis of a wild Colonial boy, Jack Doolan was his name",
single work
poetry
'The Wild Colonial Boy' is a traditional Irish/Australian ballad of which there are many different versions. It has been argued that the original version was really about Jack Donahoe (variously spelled Donahoo or Donahue), an Irish transport who arrived at Sydney Cove in 1825, and was subsequently convicted of highway robbery and sentenced to death. He escaped and waged a guerrilla war against the wealthy for more than two years in the country around Sydney. On September 1st 1830 he was ambushed by a police party near Cambelltown and shot dead, his companions Webber and Warmsley escaping into the bush. This version was eventually outlawed as seditious so the name of the protagonist changed.
The resulting Irish version is about a young emigrant, named Jack Duggan, who left the town of Castlemaine, County Kerry, Ireland, for Australia in the 1800s. According to the song (and in keeping with the true story of Jack Donahoe), he spent his time there 'robbing from the rich to feed the poor'. In the song, the protagonist is fatally wounded in an ambush when his heart is pierced by the bullet of Fitzroy.
The Australian version has Jack Doolan (or sometimes Jack Dowling) as the protagonist, and here Castlemaine refers to the Australian town in Victoria. In both versions variation in the wording and language occurs across different sources.
In his Old Bush Songs, Banjo Patterson wrote: "it will be noticed that the same chorus is sung to both 'The Wild Colonial Boy' and 'Bold Jack Donahoo'. Several versions of both songs were sent in, but the same chorus was always made to do duty for both songs." This chorus, included in some (not all) Australian versions is as follows:
- Come, all my hearties,
- we'll roam the mountains high,
- Together we will plunder,
- together we will die.
- We'll wander over valleys,
- and gallop over plains,
- And we'll scorn to live in
- slavery, bound down with iron chains.
- The Teamsi"A cloud of dust on the long, white road,", single work poetry (p. 11-12)
- Whalin' up the Lachlan (A Landowner's Song)i"I've eaten bitter bread", single work poetry (p. 13-14)
- The Man from Snowy Riveri"There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around", single work poetry (p. 14-18)
- The Old Black Billy an' Mei"The sheep are yarded, an' I sit", single work poetry (p. 19)
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Where the Dead Men Liei"Out on the wastes of the Never Never-",
single work
poetry
A poem about the many man - settlers - who perished in the Australian outback, with allusions to the landscape itself as a possible cause of these deaths.
- From Burke and Wills (A Play for Radio)i"The silence is strange when the voices eddy and fade", single work poetry (p. 22-25)
- The Roaring Daysi"The night too quickly passes,", single work poetry (p. 25-28)
- Harry Pearcei"I sat beside the red stock route", single work poetry (p. 29)
- Bullockyi"Beside his heavy-shouldered team,", single work poetry (p. 30-31)
- From A Drum for Ben Boydi"I had never before held death, pale and plished, in my", single work poetry (p. 31-32)
- South of My Daysi"South of my days' circle, part of my blood's country,", single work poetry (p. 32-34)
- Genesisi"`In the beginning,' said the old man,", single work poetry (p. 34-35)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille.
- Also e-book.
Works about this Work
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When the Last Leaf Falls
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Change - Conflict and Convergence : Austral-Asian Scenarios 2010; (p. 151-165) In this paper Glen Phillips shows 'how 221 years ago the British and European desire to create a new nation in Australia was partly motivated by a wish to escape the pollution and overcrowding of their nations' cities.' (p152) -
Untitled
1958
single work
review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 5 September 1958; (p. 498)
— Review of New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse 1957 anthology poetry -
Untitled
1957
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12 October 1957; (p. 12)
— Review of New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse 1957 anthology poetry -
Australian Verse
1957
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 4 September vol. 78 no. 4047 1957; (p. 2)
— Review of New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse 1957 anthology poetry
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Australian Verse
1957
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 4 September vol. 78 no. 4047 1957; (p. 2)
— Review of New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse 1957 anthology poetry -
Untitled
1957
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12 October 1957; (p. 12)
— Review of New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse 1957 anthology poetry -
Untitled
1958
single work
review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 5 September 1958; (p. 498)
— Review of New Land, New Language : An Anthology of Australian Verse 1957 anthology poetry -
When the Last Leaf Falls
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Change - Conflict and Convergence : Austral-Asian Scenarios 2010; (p. 151-165) In this paper Glen Phillips shows 'how 221 years ago the British and European desire to create a new nation in Australia was partly motivated by a wish to escape the pollution and overcrowding of their nations' cities.' (p152)