Rowland Bell. "The Bushman" ?
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 8:36 am
I was at my usual garage sales a couple of weeks ago and spotted a thick book entitled "The Story of Metung" by Gay Halstead.
Having a mate in Victoria I thought that he might appreciate having it as he had a beach-house in Metung which is a coastal town in Gippsland. Talking to the seller I commented that I had an interest in collecting old bush poetry and he remarked that there was work by a fellow called Bushman (or The Bushman?) in that particular book. I bought the book for $2, only to discover later that this was a signed and numbered copy of a limited run of only 1000 and the going on-line price for them was at least $150!
There was no reference to The Bushman in the book.
However there was reference to a fellow by the name of Rowland Bell and I draw on and quote from material from this excellent book for the following comments :
Now Rowland was described as a "queer fellow who lived alone in a hut - a recluse and a poet". To a couple of others he was a gentle sort of man, a great friend and confidant. He sometimes played his phonograph when they visited and strains of Wagner and the voice of Caruso would waft through the garden. They would ride out once or twice a week to visit - his door was always open and they would discuss wondrous subjects such as rare birds and rare types of orchids.
Is there any chance he could have been "Bushman", the man referred to?
It is pure conjecture since I could not see any specific mention of this term.
However, he wrote a poem that is featured in the book (no given title) about a certain class of folk who love to poke their noses into other folks' affairs. He is reported to have loved and understood the simplicity and sincerity of nature in all its aspects, while his main dislike was aptly described in the aforementioned poem.
Also he wrote a poem about his pushbike - a humorous one. Another about an old mate who died was published in the Bairnsdale newspaper "Every Week" while others were "The Bark Canoe" (1928) and "The Old Home". These are the poems featured in the book about Metung.
Apparently he would walk for miles through the bush to Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale or Swan Reach with a sugar bag over his shoulder for supplies and would spurn any offers of a lift for his other bug-bear - the motor car - although later in life he bought a push bike. Hence the poem about the bike.
He collapsed and died in 1940 after a long ride on his bike to a friend's house.
In all honesty, it is not difficult to imagine that this character could fit the bill for "Bushman". What a shame if this is the case that it was not mentioned in the segment pertaining to him - something like a full three pages or more.
He must have been a man of some repute to have his poems recorded in this book one would think.
A man who lived alone and yet had an appreciation for all of nature's beauty and music and opera singing. A man who completely shunned any "modern" advances of the day such as motor cars etc., even when offered a lift to where he was going. I could well imagine why (if this is so) that he would have been referred to as "Bushman" and why he would not have been understood by many other than his closest friends.
I don't know if any of this info could be some sort of lead to finding out more information?
The only other poem in the book I could see was written by Mary Howitt (P. 235) with the title : "The Use of Flowers". She must have been some sort of poet as well because it is mentioned that this is just one of her poems.
....
Was Rowland Bell the inspiration for Jim Grahame's poem Phonograph Jack which also refers to "Jack" having a sugar bag.
"He carries a few of the sweet old tunes
In the folds of a sugar bag,
And his battered old piping phonograph
Is packed on top of his swag."
Did he also inspire Jim's "The Pied Piper of Pipeclay Point" ? perhaps.
"Old Peter the 'possumer lived all alone
In a queer little hut he'd erected of stone.
...
Some said he was "ratty", some called him a fool,
For he would walk home with the children from school,
Though most of them feared him and some ran away
And few cared to listen to what he'd to say.
Beneath his ill-shape, he'd a heart that could sing
And child-love to him was a wonderful thing."
I guess we will never know, but it is nice to dream that maybe The Bushman did inspire Jim Grahame.
Having a mate in Victoria I thought that he might appreciate having it as he had a beach-house in Metung which is a coastal town in Gippsland. Talking to the seller I commented that I had an interest in collecting old bush poetry and he remarked that there was work by a fellow called Bushman (or The Bushman?) in that particular book. I bought the book for $2, only to discover later that this was a signed and numbered copy of a limited run of only 1000 and the going on-line price for them was at least $150!
There was no reference to The Bushman in the book.
However there was reference to a fellow by the name of Rowland Bell and I draw on and quote from material from this excellent book for the following comments :
Now Rowland was described as a "queer fellow who lived alone in a hut - a recluse and a poet". To a couple of others he was a gentle sort of man, a great friend and confidant. He sometimes played his phonograph when they visited and strains of Wagner and the voice of Caruso would waft through the garden. They would ride out once or twice a week to visit - his door was always open and they would discuss wondrous subjects such as rare birds and rare types of orchids.
Is there any chance he could have been "Bushman", the man referred to?
It is pure conjecture since I could not see any specific mention of this term.
However, he wrote a poem that is featured in the book (no given title) about a certain class of folk who love to poke their noses into other folks' affairs. He is reported to have loved and understood the simplicity and sincerity of nature in all its aspects, while his main dislike was aptly described in the aforementioned poem.
Also he wrote a poem about his pushbike - a humorous one. Another about an old mate who died was published in the Bairnsdale newspaper "Every Week" while others were "The Bark Canoe" (1928) and "The Old Home". These are the poems featured in the book about Metung.
Apparently he would walk for miles through the bush to Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale or Swan Reach with a sugar bag over his shoulder for supplies and would spurn any offers of a lift for his other bug-bear - the motor car - although later in life he bought a push bike. Hence the poem about the bike.
He collapsed and died in 1940 after a long ride on his bike to a friend's house.
In all honesty, it is not difficult to imagine that this character could fit the bill for "Bushman". What a shame if this is the case that it was not mentioned in the segment pertaining to him - something like a full three pages or more.
He must have been a man of some repute to have his poems recorded in this book one would think.
A man who lived alone and yet had an appreciation for all of nature's beauty and music and opera singing. A man who completely shunned any "modern" advances of the day such as motor cars etc., even when offered a lift to where he was going. I could well imagine why (if this is so) that he would have been referred to as "Bushman" and why he would not have been understood by many other than his closest friends.
I don't know if any of this info could be some sort of lead to finding out more information?
The only other poem in the book I could see was written by Mary Howitt (P. 235) with the title : "The Use of Flowers". She must have been some sort of poet as well because it is mentioned that this is just one of her poems.
....
Was Rowland Bell the inspiration for Jim Grahame's poem Phonograph Jack which also refers to "Jack" having a sugar bag.
"He carries a few of the sweet old tunes
In the folds of a sugar bag,
And his battered old piping phonograph
Is packed on top of his swag."
Did he also inspire Jim's "The Pied Piper of Pipeclay Point" ? perhaps.
"Old Peter the 'possumer lived all alone
In a queer little hut he'd erected of stone.
...
Some said he was "ratty", some called him a fool,
For he would walk home with the children from school,
Though most of them feared him and some ran away
And few cared to listen to what he'd to say.
Beneath his ill-shape, he'd a heart that could sing
And child-love to him was a wonderful thing."
I guess we will never know, but it is nice to dream that maybe The Bushman did inspire Jim Grahame.