Bush Poem

[Neville Briggs]

Maureen, I had a read of your latest on-line magazine.

I see that you have put in The Dead Swagman by Nancy Cato.
It is a wonderful bush poem, one of my favourites.
Isn't it strange that it probably wouldn't be accepted in a bush poetry comp because it does not comply with the narrow and restrictive dogma e.g. it does not rhyme and has metric variations.
I would take Nancy Cato's poem any day as a superb example of Australian bush poetry in perfect creativity and expressiveness. Wonderful stuff.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Why does he ascend in leaves?

[Neville Briggs]

I'm surprised that of all people, you should ask that Stephen

[Neville Briggs]

Coincidentally, it was announced on the news to-day that the Australian actor, Bill Kerr had died. As I recall, Bill Kerr had a leading role in a TV series called All The Rivers Run. This series was based on a story cycle about the Murray River steamers, written by Nancy Cato.

[warooa]

Loved that show as a kid, but Bill Kerr wasn't in it, Nev. I remember Bud Tingwell and Gus Mercurio playing roles. Return to Eden was done around the same time I think and Bill Kerr was in that.

Back to All the Rivers Run, it was great to celebrate the uniqueness of our own Steam boat history rather than that of the Mississippi.

I'm off to read some of Nancy's poetry.

Cheers, Marty

[Neville Briggs]

Ah Marty, right. I got shows mixed up, Bill Kerr was in The River Kings which was an Australian TV series also about the Murray River steamers.
The author of the novel The River Kings was another great Australian poet, Max Fatchen.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Ian Mudie - author of "They'll Tell You About Me" - wrote a history of the Australian paddle steamers.

[Neville Briggs]

And Henry Lawson wrote a short story called The Darling River about the paddle boats. I seem to remember he might have done a poem referring to river boats, I can't recall the name, I could be wrong.

One thing that I admire about Nancy Cato's poem is that she has taken a theme which could be just a cliché, the swaggie dying in the bush, but she has given a fresh and creative turn to the old story.

[Maureen K Clifford]

I'm a bit of a fan of Nancy Cato's work and always liked that particular poem Neville so pleased you liked it as well and read the mag