ABPA — The Australian Bush Poets Association Inc.

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.

New National Champion - Debby Berryman

ABPA National Championships Performance Runner-up, John Peel and Champion Debby Berryman.

The ABPA National Bush Poetry Championships were held in Bathurst, NSW from 6-9 November. Sixteen poets from around Australia competed in four sections.

ABPA National Written Champion, Shelley Hansen.

ABPA President Tim Sheed with Junior Champion Cameron Lewis.

National Championships place-getters.

Full results here.

Life Membership for Bill Kearns

Bill grew up on a dairy farm on the Coldstream River and went to Gillett’s Ridge School. He went on to work in the Department of Lands for 20 years and then a multitude of jobs before finishing up in the Public Health Department working at Grafton Base Hospital, relieving those on leave.
“They sent me down to Maclean Hospital for a fortnight and the fortnight turned into six years. I was the manager of Support Services and had about 25 staff, before retiring,” he said.
Bill said that he didn’t begin writing poetry, until around 30 years ago.
“I started off by recording a history of what it was like to grow up on a dairy farm in the 1950s and I challenged myself to write it in verse,” Bill said. “I thought if it’s in verse, no one can change it.
“So I picked out all the little things that happened on the farm and I made a poem out of each little incident (about 30 poems) and I made six copies of it and distributed it to the family.
“I eventually started to branch out into writing about other more serious stuff,” Bill said. “I went to a meeting of bush poets, which was held near Urunga, because I wanted to see what other people were writing and to see how mine stacked up.
“I found that I was writing much the same sort of stuff as they were writing.
“I met up with other Australian bush poets and they’re a mad lot. They got hold of me and totally corrupted me. I heard some of the funny things that they were writing, and I was in awe of these people and so I had a go and started focusing on the humour side of it. I found out that I did have a talent for writing comic verse and that’s what I’m mainly known for.” Bill said that his poems don’t have big words and he uses his words to create pictures in people’s minds.
“Everyone’s mind is different, so everyone sees a different picture,” Bill said. “So, what you say has got to be in general enough terms that different types of people will all form their own picture from it – so that’s my strategy in writing for an audience.”

2026 Tamworth Country Music Festival poetry events

The festival is held from Friday 16 to Sunday 25 January 2026 and, as usual, poetry plays a big part. Here are the shows we know about:

Poetry Performance Workshop viewable online

On Sunday 17 August the ABPA hosted a poetry performance workshop with Mel and Susie (2/3 of the judges for the 2025 National Bush Poetry Championships). The workshop was recorded and can be viewed on the Multimedia page.

Book Launch: A Sense of Place by David Judge

With an eventful, fulfilling and at times turbulent 70+ years behind me, I have accumulated a vast and diverse range of knowledge, skills and experiences to call upon for poetic expression. I’m not sure what prompted me to start writing poetry so late in life, however, it has given me an enduring sense of place and purpose and a fulfilling outlet for artistic creativity. Australian rhyming verse has a rich and vibrant historical affinity with our national identity and seemed to be the most natural way for me to connect with the past in a way that is structured, logical and easy for most people to understand.

We were nomads of the inland as we moved from place to place where I went to many schools and where I loved the open space and although it didn’t seem it was important at the time I am recollecting all those years with stories told in rhyme.



www.davidjudge.au

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!