ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I wasn't sure what to do with this but I feel that it might be important as a part of current Australian folk lore. I reproduce it here exactly as I found it. High up on a steep ridge overlooking the upper Hunter Valley, on a small nondescript turn out on Thunderbolts Way, there is a post about eight inches in diameter and maybe three feet high, set into the ground. Attached to it and covered with yellowing plastic or perspex, is this poem, Lauries Offsider. The poem has no significance in meter, rhyme, punctuation etc. but in itself is an example of the living poetry of the people spreading a message. Perhaps it was intended as a song. Author unknown.

LAURIE’S OFFSIDER

Well they told me tonight Laurie’s Offsider just died
I put my head in my hands, and I just couldn’t help it, I cried
No use your telling me now, that’s the way of all life
Kind of different with Laurie cause the Offside was his wife.

It was just a nickname the truckies all knew her by
We’d all give her a wave and a blast of the horn as we’d fly
And Laurie pulled over and stopped by the road for a spell
Laurie’s grin and the Offsider’s smile made us pull in as well

Well the Offside rode all the mountains there were to ride
Nowhere in the world was she happy but by Laurie’s side
And after a while we all said that she bought us good luck
But to them the whole world was the cabin of a roaring truck

Oh yeah

So it’s hard to take in that Laurie’s offside just died
But Laurie’s gonna take his offside for one last ride
With a dream and flowers and a logger that’s rolling slow
Laurie’s heading for a place on the mountain the truckies all know

And he’ll be leaving her where the tall trees bend and sigh
Where she won’t be lonely, cause she’ll hear the big wheels rolling by
And the sound of the horns from the trucks passing day and night
Laurie’s offsider will be riding with him till he dies

Yes they told me tonight that Laurie’s offside just died
I put my head in my hands, and I just couldn’t help it, I cried
There’s no use you telling me now, that’s the way of all life
Kind of different with Laurie, cause the offside was his wife
Kind of different with Laurie, cause the offside was his life.

Words look much like those to the Slim Dusty song, "Kelly's Offsider", with a few minor changes. I can't find the CD that I have (and it hasn't come up in the few searches for lyrics that I have looked at on the web) to confirm the author(s).

That would knock it out as a genuine piece of living folklore. I had a thought it might be a song.

Mal

I have done a bit more searching - lyrics are by Joy McKean

Well done, Peely.

Still, it will stand as a monument to Laurie's Offsider, who ever she may have been.

Mal

Hi Mal, doesn't much matter about metre etc ... it's the story that's important. Thanks for posting it. I really enjoyed the read.
Wazza

What a great story and how sad. How on earth did it end up on a roadside post. One could presume that it was perhaps the site of the fatal accident that took her/someone's life and it has been a truckies simple memorial - maybe a family member of even her husband. There'd have to be a poem in it Mal - have you googled to see if the story is known?

Couldn't find anything about it Maureen...someone must know somewhere.

Mal