Homework W/E Dec 4 ' The Warrigals Song'

[Terry]

The Warrigals Song

I’m woken by a wild dog’s cry that seems quite near at hand,
no doubt it’s on a nearby hill that overlooks this land.
It echoes through the granites where the spirit people dwell;
it’s chilling and primeval yet so beautiful as well.
An answer is soon coming from a place that’s far away,
to greet the first faint flush of dawn - so starts another day.

I rise at last and stir the coals and put the billy on
and huddle near the dancing flames until the chill is gone.
Then listen to their distant cries that seem now all around
and marvel at their numbers here where little water’s found.
Their calls begin to drift away as daylight now takes hold;
the last stars fade away - the eastern sky is tinged with gold.

© T.E. Piggott

[Maureen K Clifford]

Good one Terry and I dare say you have actually had first hand experience of hearing the dingoes sing.

[Terry]

Yes often Maureen.
You always seemed to hear them in granite country - and sometimes everywhere.
Their numbers have increased alarmingly is some areas according to their sworn enemies the pastoralist.

But I love them anyway.

Terry

[Maureen K Clifford]

I do too Terry. The property where I lived for a while at Stanthorpe was in granite country. I recall when we moved in there an old yellowed newspaper clipping showing a huge dingo, the largest it claimed every shot in Qld and it was on our property Springdale. Sadly the clipping went missing, probably thrown out in all the rubbish we cleared and I have never been able to find collaboration of that story on Google or Trove. I do recall though from the photograph it was a massive dog - at least as big as a German Shepherd. Our property was situated right next to the Dingo fence which ran between us and Sundown National Park.

[Terry]

That dingo may have been a crossbreed Maureen?

There were a lot of them around our lease on the Ashburton, and I saw several close up, they didn't seem that afraid because it was an isolated area, a real out of the way place where very few people even knew about.
The Dingoes there were pure bred - big dogs but quite slight, their colour was a sort of reddish brown (reasonably dark as well) I suppose you'd say, and all had the typical white tip to their tails - I could tell you a few stories about them.

Terry

[Shelley Hansen]

This is just lovely, Terry. I always admire the way you use word pictures to bring our Outback to life.

Especially love the last bit ...

Their calls begin to drift away as daylight now takes hold;
the last stars fade away - the eastern sky is tinged with gold.

Great to see you contributing to the writing workshop again - we can all learn so much from each other.

Cheers
Shelley

[Terry]

Thanks Shelley

Sometimes you get lucky and the right words just seem to pop into your mind.

Cheers

Terry