In 1996 David Whitehead of Yarck, near Alexandra, Victoria, was commissioned to clear a property at Chum Creek, north of Healesville, in preparation for its sale. It was the deceased estate of James Wright, who had migrated from England many years earlier. Under the house Mr. Whitehead found a pile of books, covered with dust … Continue reading 'A LITERARYWINDFALL FROM CHUM CREEK'
Category: Poetry
Poetry
AMONG THE collection of my late father, Jim Blair, who worked as a journalist from 1934 to the end of 1960 with The Bulletin and The Australian Woman’s Mirror were a number of slim books of poetry and verse, written by both well known and not so well known poets and often published by obscure … Continue reading Obscure Australian poetry books of the 1930s
Many of the settlers who arrived in Australia in the decades after 1788 wrote, read and recited poetry. In both its oral and written forms, poetry was much more a part of everyday life than it is today. A year after the first issue in 1803 of a local newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, an original … Continue reading The Australian Poetry Resources Internet Library
AT THE SYDNEY Show & Tell meeting of December 2007 I showed a collection of C J Dennis books and some rather unique items in my possession. I am not all that much of a poet, but I do have a fascination for some of the earlier Australian poets who, in these current times, do not seem to be so well known as Henry Lawson, ‘Banjo’ Patterson and C J Dennis. This is a pity, that our early Australian poets have been overlooked; my English study curriculum for the 1951 Leaving Certificate course was restricted to English poets and essayists of the 19th century and, of course, a Shakespeare play.