Wentworth

[Heather]

Was William Charles Wentworth our first native-born poet? Born on a ship off Norfolk Island in 1793, William was the son of D'Arcy Wentworth and a convict mother Catherine Crowley.

Most of us learned of William Charles Wentworth as one of the trio - Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth who conquered the Blue Mountains in 1813.

In 1822, W.C. Wentworth wrote a poem "Australasia" for which he won a prize. It is on the net but too long to copy. This made me wonder, is he our first recorded native-born poet?

Now, here comes the interesting personal link. D'Arcy Wentworth and Catherine Crowley (parents of WC Wentworth) arrived aboard the Neptune in 1790 with the second fleet. Wentworth had been acquitted of highway robbery - not once but four times and came to the colony to avoid facing the music. Also aboard was my ancestor, John Rogers, convicted of highway robbery......and on the same ship was an ancestor of our very own Ron Boughton of ABPA poetry fame!

The connection deepens. John Rogers was given a land grant of 30 acres at Paramatta after competing his sentence....I wonder what 30 acres at Paramatta would be worth today? The land of John Rogers and probably other lesser beings, was taken from him, consolidated and sold to none other than that rogue D'Arcy Wentworth! The Wentworths took my family fortune! Time for a land claim I reckon.

In 1814, Job Wilson, the son-in-law of John Rogers, was one of 30 convicts that built the road over the Blue Mountains.

It is 200 years this year that the road was built.

I couldn't have made all that up if I had tried!

Heather

[manfredvijars]

Here's a little timeline ... not complete ...


1795: First Fleet printing press used for first time.
1802: First book published in Australia - N.S.W. General Standing Orders.
1803: Sydney Gazette and NSW Advertiser established by Governor King.

1804: First poem published in Australia -
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
Sunday 4 March 1804 (see below)

1819: Vocabulary of Flash Language published.
1819: First book of verse published in Australia.
1824: First privately-owned newspaper in Australia founded (1824-1848).
1825: A library established in Sydney.
1830: First novel written in Australia to be published in book-form - Quintus Servinton - in Hobart.
1831: Sydney Herald established (1842 Sydney Morning Herald).
1838: First novel written by a woman to be published in Australia - The Guardian.
1840: First book of verse written by a woman to be published in Australia - author, Fidelia Hill.
1841: First children's book published in Australia - A Mother's Offering to her Children.
1846: Argus founded in Melbourne (1846-1957).
___________________________________________

THE VISION OF MELANCHOLY,

A FRAGMENT.

--------------------------------

(Apparently intended to awaken in the Mind
a transient Sentiment of that Passion from
whence it derives its Title.)

Bleak on the Tomb the midnight dew descends;
The Lamp of Night her silver reign suspends ;
No stately Tower rises to the fight,
Nor Planet's lustre chears the silent Night :

Then Fairies, sportive, on the distant mead,
In airy gestures o'er the fallows tread ;
And pallid Shapes, emerging from their clay,
Commune with Mortals till they're chac'd away.

Such was the tide when MELANCHOLY rose
To count her sorrows, and renew her woes ...
Celestial PIETY adorned her face
With RESIGNATION'S more than mortal grace ;

Her rising bosom gently seems to heave ;
Neglected tresses o'er her shoulders wave;
Transfixt her eyes that once resplendent shone
But dimm'd by SORROW now no radiance own :

With doleful Sympathy, and awe profound,
She half surveys the consecrated ground. \
Placid, serene, regardless of the wind,
The Vision fate, her pensive head reclin'd.

Thus, o'er the bier the widow'd fair one mourns.
When tumult's past, and keener grief returns ;
Late scenes of bliss insult her matchless woe,
And each new thought does some new pang bestow !

And so the Parent, too, with aching eye
Beholds a much-lov'd corse extended lie---
Grief's fountains cease---and then her plaints are heard
In broken accents --- ' Had my boy been spar'd !'

On ! extacy of grief! to bliss refin'd ;
Reserv'd alone for the superior mind,
Where Sensibility assumes the rein,
To bend Affliction, and to soften Pain .

parting clouds foretel Nocturna's flight,
The yawning tomb receives the ashy sprite.

C.S,

(Sorry, no idea who C. S. is ... )
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article ... tag=poetry

[Neville Briggs]

So the original Wentworths were alleged highway robbers and skipped away to avoid facing the music ; their descendants went into politics....figures.

[Neville Briggs]

In 1905 Banjo Paterson published a collection called Old Bush Songs. The collection started with two Aboriginal songs that had been recited by Aborigines and written down in English script by an S. Mowle in about 1850. If we assume that the Aborigine songs were from an oral tradition going back long before 1850 then I suppose it could be argued that these fragments simply known as Two Aboriginal songs are a record of the oldest known poetry by a native born Australian.

[Heather]

Very melancholy Manfred

Yes Neville, D'Arcy Wentworth was a highway robber (at least 4 times) and I suspect that the only reason he got off was money, money, money. He came out as ship's doctor to escape the heat. .....and then stole my family fortune the scoundrel!

"Native-born" was a term that was often used by people to distinguish between those born in England/Ireland/Scotland (the Mother Country) etc and Australia. I mean no offense to any pre-1788, native-born Australians.

[Heather]

You know what I meant Marty.

[keats]

I thought Wentworth was a TV show about a women's prison?

Neil

[Heather]

There's a prison called "Wentworth"?

See, now you've learned something too Neil! .... and I think I'm about to.