Page last modified  Dec 10 2010      Poems added to Murphy and Lawson

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WESTERN AUSTRALIAN BUSH POETS FROM THE PAST
This page is being constructed gradually as time goes on and more Bush Poets from the past are discovered and they, along with whatever of their  poetry we can find is added.

It is a sad fact that much of our literary history is either forgotten or is locked away in some archives accessible only to people "in the know". I (Brian Langley) along with the WA Bush Poets believe that the poetic history, particularly the rhyming poetry of authors now dead should not be forgotten but should form an accessible part of our Heritage and Culture for all to enjoy, and so I have created these pages with this thought in mind.

It is by reading through these poems of a past era that we begin to understand just what life was like in times past, the hardships, the isolation, the humour, the hopes, the political intrigues, the social mores, these are what make us what we are today.

Western Australia has a rich heritage in poetry, although very little of it has been remembered.  The relative isolation of both Western Australia and its outback and goldfields meant that a lot of the poets of earlier times only ever got published in the local weekly paper (of which almost none survived) -  It is only since the days of old newspapers being available on the internet that much of the poetry on these pages has once more seen the light of day.

While some of the poems are from well known and documented authors (albeit little known outside "poetic" specailists), many are from people who possibly only penned a small number during their lifetime.  Some of these do not necessarily have the consistency of rhythm or structure that we modern "Bush Poets" have come to accept as the norm, nor do they always have perfect rhyme, but they are part of our history, heritage and culture and are the fore-runners of the highly structured Bush verse of today.

Please be aware that some of the poems in this series contain words that are today (2011) racially unacceptable.  I have not "cleansed" them for they are in the language of the time they were written when attitudes and social mores were quite different to what they are today.  Likewise, you may find dashes in some poems.  These too are as originally penned.  The dashes were in place of (very mild by current standards) expletives which at the time would have landed their author  and publisher in court - Oh! how times have changed.  

If you know of any poet that you feel deserves to be on these pages, please inform the webmaster
If you have any poems which you feel should appear on these pages, please send an electronic version
(MS Word, Publisher - Not PDF) to the webmaster

To be considered, a poet must have written mainly Australian Rhyming Verse whilst in Western Australia and must have died.  - If they died prior to 1955, their poetry (which should be copyright free), if available, will likely be included in these pages.  Poets who died later than 1955 may have some biographical information included as well as any poetry we can get the copyright owners permission to publish

I have in some cases pre-empted permission to publish, mainly as I have had enormous difficulty locating the copyright owners.    Should you be a copyright owner of some of this material and object to it being here, please inform me and I will remove it, if it is OK with you for it to be here, please also inform me so that I can give due recognition of your permission.
 

Below is an alphabetic listing of poets who wrote whilst in Western Australia and who have now passed into the pages of history.

It includes poets who were normally based in other places but came to Western Australia and wrote whilst here

Clicking on their name will take you to a page containing whatever biographical information we can gather and also (where applicable) whatever  poetry we are able to find.  Contributions from the public to this page is always welcome -  simply e-mail the webmaster

Those who passed on prior to 1955 and whose poetry should be copyright free
 

Those Who have passed on more recently (post 1955)
and whose poetry is likely to be restricted by copyright
Please tell me if you know of anyone whose name should be here or if you have any details about the listed people
 

Walking Different Tracks

The list below is of prolific Western Australian poets of a past era whose style generally is not considered to be Bush Poetry,  They are included as they did, in their day contribute greatly to the overall poetry scene in Australia -  I include a very brief profile of those I know of - again, please inform me of anyone you think should be listed -  I will only transcribe any of their poems I feel fit the "Bush Poetry" style

Many poems of past eras contain words and phrases that no longer are in common use. While some older folk may still recall some of them, younger generation may puzzle over the strange choice of words.  I have attempted to create a list of these words and phrases with current meaning - perhaps one day, these too will disappear into obscurity   Click Here to go to the list

 

This Page initially created Sept 9 2010