The day Bert (Hinkler) came to town.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Using some tips Glenny has kindly shared and tried to drum into my head in the very nicest possible way for which I thank her I have rewritten this one before embarking on the somewhat daunting task of using lots of polish on Desert Interlude. I would be interested ...please, please, please ...in knowing whether I have maybe overcome my bugbear of metre because if I have in this one then maybe I have got a handle on it - so please feel free to let me know what you reckon



This is the rewrite


This is a true story

The Day Bert came to Town


I’m sure you must have heard of Bert - the birdman of the skies.
A flyer of renown that Queensland can't ignore,
in 1892 at Bundaberg the child was born,
he worked with sugar, but he always craved for more.
He joined the Queensland aero club – built gliders of his own,
then worked for Sopwith testing planes on England’s shores.
When war began he joined the Naval Service and this boy
knew how to shoot a rifle. Great shot. Perfect scores.

To use his talent they gave him a special job to do
escorting bombers all the way from fields of France.
A nimble Sopwith Strutter and a bloke knows how to fly
had made it doubtful that those Germans stood a chance.
He claimed that as a gunner he had downed six German planes
though documented proof of this is somewhat thin.
The blokes he flew with knew the truth, he was content with that;
and it was war – he couldn’t see it as a sin.

He saw the war out, stationed somewhere out in Italy
where it’s believable he hatched his daring plan
to cross the Alps from Croyden to Turin. Ten hours or less;
he managed nine, in 1920 - what a man.
Britannia Trophy was the winner’s prize - and his alone.
and now he longed to see again his big brown land.
But fate then turned against him so he shipped his Avro home
and deep inside he felt he’d missed a mission planned.

He flew in many places ’cross the world throughout the years,
the trophies won enhanced his fine collection;
a solo flight was finally made in 1928
home to Bundaberg and family connections.
His feat of daring saw the Air Force Cross as his reward.
the payment of two grand was unexpected.
It helped with his expenses and he thanked the Government
for their acknowledgement. He knew he was respected.


They also made him squadron leader with the RAAF reserve
He'd not anticipated this honour that's sure.
He was a local hero, one who’d done his country proud
and bought glory again to Bundaberg’s front door.
One day Bert just decided he’d take Avro Avian out
for fun, and ended up in Stanthorpe. Don’t know why.
He landed just outside of town. The locals were impressed,
suggested Pierpoint had the fuel to make her fly.

They folded back the Avro’s wings then pushed her 'cross the field
over the grass and sharp edged traprock into town,
and parked at Pierpoint Motors or Garage as it was then.
Thirteenth of June, nineteen twenty eight written down.
Why did he come to Stanthorpe on that winter day in June?
Was there a reason? It’s quite a nice place to see.
The one and only time that he had ever ventured there
it’s documented into the town’s history.

They never named a street for him, not even park or pub.
Were they bedazzled by their fleeting touch with fame?
The landing place is clear though covered now with modern homes
still, other things around the town remain the same.
By Quartpot Creeks green grassy banks Pierpoint still stands today
some folks heard to say ‘never’ others ‘maybe’.
But the photo on the wall beyond doubt proves that he was there
shown clearly standing outside Pierpoint, Bert and ‘Baby’





Maureen Clifford © 01/12

[Maureen K Clifford]

this is the original



The day Bert came to town



I’m sure you’ve probably heard of Bert - the birdman of the skies.
A flyer of renown from Queensland's shore.
in 1892 at Bundaberg the child was born,
he worked with sugar, but he always craved for more.
He joined the Queensland aero club – built gliders of his own,
then worked for Sopwith on the old darts verdant shores.
When war began he joined and being a young country boy
knew how to shoot a rifle, great shot, perfect scores.

To use his talent they gave him a special job to do
escorting bombers all the way from fields of France.
A nimble Sopwith Strutter and a bloke knows how to fly
meant it’s doubtful that those Germans stood a chance.
He claimed that as a gunner he had downed six German planes
though documented proof of this is somewhat thin.
The blokes he flew with knew the truth, he was content with that;
it didn’t seem to be such a big deal to him.

He saw the war out, stationed somewhere out in Italy
and that was where no doubt he hatched his daring plan
to cross the Alps in 1920 from Croyden on to Turin
just over nine hours flying. Not bad, thought this man.
Britannia Trophy was the winner’s prize - and his alone.
and now he longed to see again his big brown land.
But fate then turned against him so he shipped his Avro home
feeling he had missed out on something really grand.


He flew in many places ’cross the world over the years
adding more trophies to his burgeoning collection;
but finally in 1928 he made a flight
back to Australia – solo, instant reconnection.
His feat of daring saw the Air Force Cross being rewarded
plus two thousand quid the Government chipped in
to help with his expenses; he had not expected that
this kindness was nearly the undoing of him.

They also made him squadron leader with the RAAF reserve
an honour unexpected that’s for sure.
He was a local hero, one who’d done his nation proud
and bought glory again to Bundaberg’s front door.
One day Bert just decided he’d take Avro Avian out
and ended up in Stanthorpe. Don’t know why.
He landed just outside of town. The locals were impressed
he needed fuel for Baby now to fly.

They folded back the Avro’s wings then pushed her 'cross the paddock
through the grass and flint sharp traprock into town,
and parked at Pierpoint Motors or Garage as it was then
June thirteen, nineteen twenty eight was written down.
Why did he come to Stanthorpe on that winter day in June?
Was there a reason? It’s quite a nice place to see.
The one and only time that he had ever ventured there
it’s documented into the town’s history.

Pierpoint Motors is still there, on the banks of Quartpot creek.
The landing place has changed; it's not fields any more.
A photo hangs upon their wall to prove that he was there
it shows Bert and ‘Baby’ parked outside their door.


Maureen Clifford © 01/12

[Glenny Palmer]

Hellooo Maureen,
Well love, you get a jellybean for working so hard. This would have taken a lot of time & effort. Will you do this homework now?
Will you please post the first stanza of your re-write, in the manner I demonstrated to you in my email, as showing each strong beat syllable in bold....and with each word divided into syllables. eg:

I had writ-ten him a let-ter which I had for want of bet-ter ..... 7 strong. 9 weak.

....and....note the number of strong beats and weak beats in every line.....beside every line...(or below every line if this window doesn't allow for beside it.)

nb. be sure to check your 'preview window' before posting, as it's laid out differently than in this text window.)

Then we can actually see how the meter & syllable count has worked out from your effort of re-writing.

We need to get this done before you further tackle the desert poem.

Cheeers
Glenny

[Maureen K Clifford]

I’m sure you must have heard of Bert - the bird-man of the skies.
7s7w
A fly-er fo re-nown that Queens-land can't ig-nore,
6s6w
in eight-een nine-ty two at Bun-da-berg the child was born,
7s7w
he worked with sug-ar, but he al-ways craved for more.
6s6w
He joined the Queens-land aer-o club – built gli-ders of his own
7s7w
then worked for Sop-with test-ing planes on Eng-land’s shores.
6s6w
When war be-gan he joined the Nav-al Ser-vice and this boy
7s7w
knew how to shoot a rif-le. Great shot. Per-fect scores.
6s6ws



Hope I've done that right

[Glenny Palmer]

Bless u girl for hopping onto it so quickly. I'm afraid I've got a sick tummy bug hit me so I'll reply tomorrow Mausey. Sorry about that...

[Maureen K Clifford]

Hope you are bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning Glenny - just the way croc likes 'em You take care.

Cheers

Maureen