The Spoken Word in Bush Poetry

[Gary Harding]

One cultural aspect previously outlined is that of The Australian Kitchen

Some foods can readily be identified with their country of origin (spaghetti etc) but a young country like Australia has little that is unique, foodwise.

I recall seeing Clam Chowder soup on the supermarket shelf in the USA, and I brought back a tin. (It wasn't a memorable taste)

However product labels that are typical of their country of origin are an interesting way of presenting a nation's food culture.

Beautiful Australian Jams

I suppose, like most people, I am drawn to colourful things and Jam labels are eye-catching and fun.

The best labels entice me to buy!

From my more extensive Collection dealing with this subject comes this sample of Original Vintage Labels... mostly from old classic Australian jam tins or the printer's dusty shelves. I just spread a few out and photographed them (below). Click on them to gain a better view as they are in higher resolution.

[Gary Harding]

Walter Stone Part 2

"The Passionate Bibliophile"

This biography of the late Walter Stone (Angus and Robertson Publishers 1988, printed in Singapore) was authored by his wife, Jean Stone, and I have scanned the dust jacket (below). It is a lovely book but I wonder who would want to know all about a Book Collector, such that the cost of the publication can be recovered through sales?

Also pictured is The Best of Banjo Paterson being a comprehensive anthology of Paterson's ballads and prose selected by Walter Stone. It is a companion volume to The World of Henry Lawson (1974) and quite commonly found in old bookshops or op-shops.

Anyway, I am fortunate to be able to use the fruits of Walter and his friend's studious labour to produce displays etc that bring all this material to the people you might see cruising the supermarket and in a manner that everybody understands.

Walter Stone and his mates were Australian heroes.

[Catherine Lee]

Thank you for this, Gary - I always learn something new from your posts.... Love the collection of vintage labels. My first try of clam chowder was at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco decades ago but I don't think I've ever seen a tinned version! These labels are really stirring my memories from childhood of similar bright, colourful labels - you are so right in that they entice us to buy!

[Gary Harding]

I'm delighted that you find these posts informative Catherine. When I found out about your fabulous Blackened Billy competition win I was also impressed and over the moon. Keeping up the tradition of bush balladry, and doing it as well as you do, is important for Australia. Exceptionally well done.

The Australian Cultural Centre intends to present musical instruments to visitors. In many cases they will have the opportunity to play them.

Banjo Paterson's well-used banjo (banjo mandolin) as shown in a previous post (April 2024) is now nicely re-strung, the missing fret dot on the lower neck replaced and it is generally cleaned up. I am delighted to see this vintage instrument go from sad to happy.

A new Electric Mandolin (in hard case) has just been added to this collection. (shown below). I could not resist buying it.. a bit frivolous perhaps?.. but it looks and feels terrific.

There is something about owning musical instruments. A sense of empowerment?

Kind patriotic donations of items underpin this useful musical accumulation.

All destined to be presented to Visitors, some of whom would have otherwise never come into contact with them.
Especially younger folk who may be the next Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix..

.. or even Earl Scruggs (banjo playing starts at 2.00min mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af9wHDr ... f9wHDrkjfk

Who knows but in decades to come, whether some Australian star will not be asked "How did you get your start with a guitar?"
And he will reply..."I had the chance as a kid to pick one up and be encouraged to try it at The Australian Cultural Centre".

Better than locking some poor instrument away in a cupboard where it "frets" and does no good at all. Keeping something for the sake of Keeping.
After all, in our hearts we all unselfishly want to benefit others??

It is like returning something to that wonderful benefactor, Music, in acknowledgement of all the pleasure that it has given us.

Gary

[Gary Harding]

Tip Kelaher Part 1

It is an enormous honour to present Australian poet, Tip Kelaher (1914 - 1942)

His book of poems entitled The Digger Hat was published posthumously and in the year of his death.

"Tip Kelaher was born in Bronte, Sydney in 1914. In 1940 he enlisted in the 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion and sailed for the Middle East later that year. In the Palestine camp of Khassa, Tip turned his hand to writing poetry. The result was his first and acclaimed poem 'The Digger Hat' which captured the spirit of the AIF. Subsequently he wrote several poems while on leave in which he poured out his longing for home and his love for the Australian Bush. Some of these were published by The Bulletin back home and distinguished him as a balladist of great potential. Tip was killed at El Alamein in 1942 by a spandau bullet on 14 July.
Four months later his younger brother Emmot was also killed in action. In 1942, Tip's collection of poetry was published posthumously into a small book."

I researched and found some detail on the action in which he lost his life but the aim of this is not to talk all about that.

It is his verse that impresses.

The Digger Hat

I've seen some lids in days gone by
From Bris. to Dunedoo;
Top hats that strive to reach the sky,
And cloth caps round the "Loo;
The sombrero and the stockman
That shade from Queensland suns,
The topi that is favourite
On many outback runs

I've have seen in busy roadways
All the fashions cities know-
The bowler and the pork-pie
With its crown so very low.
I have seen the swagman's relic,
The turban and the fez,
And all the hats that cut a style
From Sydney to Suez.

But there's a hat I'm wearing,
And I think it beats them all
From the Cape to San Francisco,
From Melbourne to Whitehall;
For it's been in many countries
And in each it did its share,
From the mud and slush of Flanders
To Sinai's heat and glare.

So I'm proud to wear my rabbit's fur
Although she's creased and worn,
And not so slick as polished caps
The Tommies' heads adorn;
For it has an air of Aussie,
Of "Come and have a drink?"
The good old easy style that leads
To glory or "the clink."

It exudes the smell of gum leaves
From crown to sweaty band
And often makes me homesick
In this Palestinian sand;
But it stands for Right and Manhood-
And who'd want more than that?
That's why, one day in '40
I took the Digger hat!

I have three copies of his book (which is not a rare publication). One of them is falling apart but I only bought it for the two wonderful letters it contained relating to Tip's verse, written by a soldier of that time. It is often the case with old books that letters are slipped in or sometimes newspaper cuttings of the time.

Those letters come up in Part 2

[Gary Harding]

Rummaging through the Collection.. brushing aside the cobwebs and blowing dust off objects.. one pleasantly rediscovers nice things.

Australians All (1934, Bush Folk in Rhyme) is a book for children which contains some clever verse.

This particular copy is cheerfully inscribed on the front end-paper by the author, Nelle Grant Cooper (Kay Grant) to Jack Moses (December 1939).

Jack Moses was a good friend of Henry Lawson and is a featured poet in our displays.

He published two books.. Nine Miles From Gundagai (1938 on), and Beyond The City Gates (1923) which in hardcover and inscribed is a valuable book and fortunately several of these are in the collection.

Jack might be called "The Father of Australian Reciting" if such titles are useful..

Also (below) is our magazine article about Jack Moses from a few years back.

This book inscription which could reasonably be assumed to have been written "off the cuff" (wow!) I find to be both sentimental and impressive.

I really like it, and trust any Reader here does as well!!

I know you love Australia and her great wide-open spaces.
Her birds and beasts and people with their happy smiling faces.
I hope that Christmas finds you, well and happy - full of cheer,
With all your cares behind you in a prosperous New Year!

From one good Australian to another
Jack Moses from Nelle Grant Cooper
December 1939

[Maureen K Clifford]

Loved the poem you shared re The diggers hat and also the jam labels. What a rich history our country has, and yet sadly so undervalued - or so it seems to me - if it is American we take it on board, but if it is Australian, seems we sweep it under the carpet and do our best to ignore it.

Is this I wonder as a result of our immigration policies? With so many people coming in from other countries (myself included) and being in general younger, they have no real connection with Australia (yet) Hopefully in years to come they will, but in the meantime we are losing what is left of our very young history. I am all in favour of immigration, and integration. 'Citizens of the world' has long been my own catch cry, in a vain attempt to perhaps make people think twice about wanting to go to war against each other - but it seems to me that along the way, many nations are losing their history, the things that made their nations proud, that were part of their culture and development. And I suspect that therein lies a big % of the problem our world has, because without the knowledge of what has gone before, the good and the bad, then history tends to repeat itself.

[Gary Harding]

Yes Maureen, Australia has an interesting History and of course it also has an especially wonderful Culture. Culture is a sensory thing and should thus be used to entertain and educate (not to propagandise and promote subtle political agendas).

The Australian Cultural Centre, to be located halfway down the east coast for convenience, brings all these aspects together under one roof. A one-stop shop. Music, literature, art. Everything. Blinky Bill... Banjo Paterson... a huge list, and mostly completed too. Truly incredible!!!!

Then we branch into related areas such as Primary Production and geography. Flora and fauna too. Fun stuff. Not a dull museum, but an exciting experience.. and stimulating.

A $180mill exercise for the benefit of all Australians. And overseas visitors. Just as we build Shrines to the Fallen, so a shrine to Australian Culture must be respectfully created. One that endures forever.

Nobody else will do this but myself and my Curator Karen who is nobly supported by her family.

Nobody has the material.. the actual displays and the creative ability. The sheer drive and PATRIOTISM. Not a public servant in Canberra whose only interest is their own job. That's for sure. Keep them right OUT!! For heaven sake.. or it will be yet another aboriginal or Chinese cultural centre.

Australian Culture.. its preservation and Promotion. Made to be entertaining.
ALL on my shoulders. Nobody else's. MINE!!!

Can you imagine a grander or more important responsibility for Australia?? A massive responsibility to all those blokes who created Australia... did it all.

Tip Kelaher produced exceptional work. I will get around to posting part two which was the contemporary letter written by a fellow soldier, included in one book... making it special.

[Gary Harding]

Tip Kelaher Part 2

It is a joy for me to find in old poetry books, such gems as this. Two sheets of Australian Comforts Fund (wartime issue letter paper) inscribed by George to Gladys. My copy of Tip's book, The Digger Hat, is also named to Gladys.

"George" was so taken and excited by Tip's writing that he took the significant time to transcribe these two poems.

I suspect that these sheets were then sent ahead back to Australia from active service in North Africa by George and, as requested, Gladys kept them. Later when the book followed she inserted them for safe keeping, explaining their excellent condition.

Letters shown below... (Pics 1 and 2)

Inscriptions as follows :

1. This piece was written by "Tip" Kelaher 2/2/ Mg's (Machinegun Batallion). Who was unfortunately killed during our last stunt at Alamein. George.

2. Another one to the collection Glad. Hang on to them. George. x (The Wounded From Tobruk)

Ginger Mick (extract)

Now if a mortar cops me when the shells are falling thick,
I hope I’ll go where battlers go and meet old Ginger Mick.
He’s the cove that Dennis wrote about who came and had a go
On the rugged slopes of Anzac over twenty years ago.

This Mick was Dinkum Aussie, and his mates were all the same;
I hope they’ll come and greet me when the devil calls my name;
For we’ll all have much in common ’spite of twenty years between,
They will know the tracks I’ve travelled and the places where I’ve been.

I know I’ll mix with all these blokes; they’ll speak my language, too.
They’ll talk of beer and fights and fun the way they used to do.
We’ll all sit down and roll a smoke, and yarn of this and that.
From Bulyeroi to Bendigo, from Bourke to Ballarat.

What excellent verses could Tip have written had he not been killed? Speculation is pointless. And it is not my role to pontificate from on high about his military service and writing, 80 years after the event. His work is humbling and stands on its merits. There it is.

I have decided that his exceptional poetic work will find an earned and honoured place within the brilliant C J Dennis section at The Australian Cultural Centre.

Tip.. standing shoulder to shoulder with Den where he deserves to be. Not because he gave his life, but because of the quality of his poetry .. and I am a tough judge there!

It is the best thing that I can do for him.