ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 5TH of NOVEMBER.

Remember, remember the 5th of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot.
How Guy Fawkes baulked the government,
It’s decisions and, covenants.
And how he plotted to blow up the lot.

Children hunt while mothers groan,
‘Why can’t we be left alone?
All we want is a place to rest,
But all we hear is, ‘Where’s Grandpa’s vest?
Where’s those old trousers you threw out,
And those shoes, with their soles half out?
If I threw them out, then they’re no good,
So please be quiet you know you should.’

‘We won’t be noisy; we will be good.
We’re looking for two long bits of wood.’
‘Hey Mum, we found these sticks, in the bombed out houses.
Can we have Dad’s old coat; and these old trousers?’
Stuffed with paper and rags; gosh, he’s fat!
The bonfire’s ready, but where’s the Guy’s hat?
Oh there it is, stuck fast in that briar,
Now Guy Fawkes is ready for our street’s Bon Fire.

Mum’s doin’ the washin’, Dad’s at his works,
We need some money to buy fireworks.
‘Penny for the Guy, Mister,’ outside the shop,
‘We must have some crackers when we put him up top.’
Bangers and Jumping Jacks, thrown on the ground
To give all a fright and make feet dodge around.
There are bottles with rockets that fly to the sky.
There are hands in pockets; warm and dry.

The flames rise high, we could see through the fire
The Guy stands up on his funeral pyre.
He cannot jump off the great pile of wood
He’s tied tight to the chair that used to be good.
And on the chair’s legs, we all scratched our names,
Remembering the reason as it goes up in flames.
On each 5th of November, we remember Guy Fawkes,
When he planned to blow up the House of Lords.

Tortured; guilty of treason, the story is told
How he cheated The Hangman; he jumped off the scaffold.
This did not go well with government and Crown
Who draw and quarter, enemies of renown.
They enforced a law that all should remember
And proclaimed a holiday, for the 5th of November

Remember, remember the 5th of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot.
Fawkes disagreed with the English government;
All it’s decisions and, religious covenants.
But it made sure Guy Fawkes, was never forgot!


Guy Fawkes 1570 – 1606
He really should have chosen his friends better than he did.
A group planned to assassinate King James and restore a Catholic Monarch to the throne of England.
An anonymous letter caused the authorities to search Westminster Palace.
Left by his Catholic friends to guard the Gunpowder under the House of Lords, Guy Fawkes was arrested. He was questioned and tortured for the following few days and then taken out for execution.
The holiday was proclaimed as a warning that was supposed to remind anyone who may have had the same idea that they won’t get away with it.
They were really peeved that they couldn’t pull him apart and send the parts to all points of the compass.
Would you sit on a keg of Gunpowder in a cellar?
Gruesome Lot, weren’t they?
There is a comprehensive biography here: www.britannia.com/history/g-fawkes.html

Hi Eliza,
I well remember Guy Fawkes night.
When I was a boy we were still allowed to buy fireworks back then and we used to build a big bonfire and sometimes put a Guy on top of it.
But my memories are all about the fireworks, this was the sort thing that kids used to dream about.

I guess for one night each year, we were all budding little juvenile terrorist in those days.

Cheers Terry

G'day Eliza,
I would think most people on this site would remember Guy Fawkes night, it seemed such a good idea back then, we can still buy fireworks here in the Territory for Territory day....what a pain! People buy them over the preceding week and then there is a set time to let them off. Of course there are a lot of fireworks going off and it is very spectacular, but, then the DH's keep plenty of them back and set them off at all hours of the day and night for the rest of the year! We get a sedative from the Vet for our dogs for the night of territory day, but they are on their own from then on, it can be quite a pain. I think the penalties are quite high for letting them off out of the allotted times, but it is hard to catch people in the act and I havn't heard of anyone being prosecuted. It is always a hard time for the dog catchers and the dog owners around this time of year.

Thanks for sharing, guys and the different takes on the occasion, now long gone, except maybe in England, where it all started. The powers that be here in SA 'moved' Bonfire Night to July because of the fire risks' like a damp firework it fizzled. The reason for the occasion changed and is now replaced with the Sound and Light Show; music in the park with lasers and holographs instead of fireworks.
My memories are of childhood in England where bonfires were built at the corner of the street, cars were few and the houses built in long rows, but the bonfires burned so hot that part of the pavement was gone the following morning.
Oh, the dogs we never let ours out, and I remember when we lived in a house that had a cellar, we had to take Rex down and bring him out in the morning. The large expanses of land in our Aussie outback would allow the dogs to run in fright for miles, unlike. The Loaded Dog, Henry Lawson, who seemed to like 'Bangers'. (sorry for laughing, dogs, if you're reading this, woof!)

I was told that as children, in West Australia, some of today's adults use to blow up Ants nests with the Bangers, well at least the ants are safer today!


Eliza

I remember a penny for the guy as a kid ...pushing the guy around in a wheelbarrow literally begging a penny from people to buy some fireworks, and then the excitement of the big street bonfires as well when all the crackers were pooled and a big display put on for all to enjoy with tables of food and drink supplied by the Mums in the street. Do they till do that in UK I wonder.

But like Ross - to me now it is a nightmare for the dogs..with Mahalia on sedatives and trembling fit to shake herself to pieces. At least here in Ippie if there is going to be a public display by the council they do put it in the papers so you have notification of it which is a help....but as for the idiots that let them off wherever and whenever ..the poor dogs suffer for their folly, and no doubt many run away and are lost.

Scrooge that I have become I now just see these displays as a tremendous waste of taxpayers/ratepayers money which could I am sure be better spent than sending it up in smoke.

Thanks for reminding me of an old memory and the reason behind it Eliza - well done

Cheers

Maureen

Yes Maureen we did, and we put potatoes on a long handled shovel at the fires edge, Toffee Apples and Treacle Toffee went round on trays. every Mum made enough for their kids and their friends, so everyone got some. When we went home (down the street a little bit), we had 'pretty' fireworks like Catherine Wheels, Golden Rain and Rockets that would lift bottle off the ground! the rocket sticks would end up in the gutters on the roof tops. Sometimes the bottle would get there as well!
If we don't remember our experiences the future kids would think that the only things that ever went, BOOM, were bombs and as Terry said, kids were terrorists! Of course with people with brains like Marty they're not far from the truth!

Eliza

Absolutely wrong to persecute a poor fella like Guy Fawkes,

Marty we made cannons out of old bike pumps and gees could they throw a cracker a long way up into the air, Get it wrong though and look out.


Bob The Angel

Hi Bob,
The innocent things that you 'boys' turned into assault weapons;

Eliza

Too True, Marty, but the gov'ment seems to want all our freedoms of choice lately.
But, maybe I shouldn't open that keg of 'gunpowder'?

Eliza

I still have my guns, if you spend as much time on the road as I do and saw as many signs, tanks, windmills and various other things shot up by idiots with guns, before you even start on the indiscriminate shooting of animals just for fun, then I am sure you would agree with me that some gun control was long overdue. I rarely use mine now but stubbornly kept them because I have had guns since a young age and could see no reason not to have them, I can say I have never shot stuff I shouldn't have......except for the odd bush turkey....but in those days they were part of our diet.... I know guns don't kill people, people do, but guns make it easier for idiots to do it. I rarely see anything shot up these day too I might add.