Welcome to the Australian Bush Poets Association
WELCOME. Membership of the Australian Bush Poets Association (ABPA) is comprised of writers, performers
and individuals who are interested in bush poetry and enjoy written and live stories in rhyme and metre. If
you have an interest in this piece of Australian culture called bush poetry, you have come to the right place.
Aims
The objectives of the Australian Bush Poets Association are to foster and encourage the growth of bush poetry
in Australia. By definition, Australian bush poetry is metred and rhymed poetry about Australia, Australians
and/or the Australian way of life.
Membership
To join the Australian Bush Poets Association and receive our bi-monthly magazine, go to our Membership page.
The ABPA keeps in touch with its members through this website (and forum) and our bi-monthly
magazine of bush poetry news, events, results of written and performance competitions as well as samples of contemporary
bush poetry. Many members have books, CDs and other products. These can be advertised in the magazine. For rates,
click here. The deadline for ads and other content for the magazine is the 22nd
of the month preceding publication. Magazines are published at the beginning of February, April, June, August, October and
December.
Check out our
Facebook page.
Past Magazines now online
The historic magazines of the ABPA from its inception in 1994 are now available here. See how we used to look!
Man From Snowy River Bush Festival
Corryong, Victoria once again hosted the iconic festival and three competitions were run and won.
See full results here
and the Corryong Courier newspaper report
here.
The poets gathered at the Man From Snowy River statue.
Competitors in the Carol Reffold Memorial 1-minute Cup with winner David Stanley holding the trophy and wearing the embroidered oilskin coat.
Jack Riley Award held by Graeme Johnson for winner Rhonda Tallnash.
The Man From Snowy River perpetual trophy held by Graeme Johnson with winner Seamus Foley holding his personal trophy hand made by Linton Vogel.
New Australian Champion: Michael Darby
ABPA President Tim Sheed, new Australian Champion Michael Darby, third-placed Debby Berryman, runner-up Jenny Markwell and ABPA Secretary Meg Gordon.
The National Bush Poetry Championships were held in Orange, NSW during the Banjo Paterson Australian Poetry Festival and Michael Darby is the new champion.
Michael is from Western Australia and gave outstanding performances during the competition. See full results here.
See previously featured poets.
See previously featured achievers.
Anthology On Sale
Anthology of ABPA poets past and present is now on sale $28
posted (within Australia).
A who’s who of modern bush poetry.
62 poets, 192 pages.
More information here (pdf).
On This Site
Membership Information
Forms and direct deposit information.
Forum
Take part in our online forum.
Multimedia
See and hear some of our modern Bush Poets.
Yarn Spinning
Poets often tell yarns too.
Read some great Aussie yarns.
Regular Events
You’ll find regular poetry gatherings around the country.
Featured Poets
Meet a poet or two.
Member Achievements
Read about what some of our members have achieved.
Roll of Honour
Australian Bush Poetry Champions and ABPA executive members.
Past Magazines
Past issues of the ABPA Magazine since 1994.
Magazine Advertising Rates
Disclaimer
Privacy Policy
2022 ABPA Committee
- ABPA Committee Executive
President — Tim Sheed
Vice President — David Stanley
Secretary — Meg Gordon
Treasurer — Christine Middleton - Committee Members
Tom McILveen
Manfred Vijars
Ray Essery - ABPA State Delegates
NSW — Bill Kearns
Victoria — Jan Lewis
Queensland — Peter Frazer
WA — Irene Conner - Magazine Editor — Neil McArthur
Public Officer — Gregory North
Facebook Editor — Jan Lewis
Webmaster — Gregory North
President’s Report June-July
Australian rhymed and metered bush poetry is alive and well and has just
been taken up by the Ipswich Show in 2023 and was a great success. We have
always found that people really “get it” if they see it done well and that was
the case here.
The Tasmanian Steam Fest in Sheffield was held over the long weekend in
March and included bush poetry for the first time. Weather perfect, crowds
huge and kids everywhere and they loved the poetry. We will return.
The Man From Snowy River Festival was held in Corryong in April and the
ABPA committee were extensively involved helping with the running of the
Bush Poetry entertainment and the Man From Snowy River poetry recital
competition. It is an iconic festival just recovering from the plague.
The past ABPA magazines have been digitized and are available on our website.
It has been a huge undertaking and our thanks go to the legends that made it happen.
The EKKA in Brisbane is looking to use a platform like Zoom to allow remote
bush poets to participate and we anticipate that if that is successful it will
have a rapid uptake elsewhere.
With the success of the National Bush Poetry Competition in Orange we are
exploring ways to organize State Championships in NSW, Victoria and
Queensland over the next eighteen months to potentially feed into a future
National Championship. Western Australia have been running annual State
Championships for years.
Timothy Sheed
President.