Poems by "Anon" and unknown (or little known) poets - This list is constantly under review
Not all listed poems are yet on this website (no link shown)
This list does not include many "Anon" poems initially published in Newspapers printed in the Goldfields and which were previously listed by a University of WA researcher as "Unknown Goldfields Poet" - This list (with a small number of (unnumbered) additions of mine) is at the end of this page.
Should you read these poems, you will note that some do not have the strict rhyme and rhythm that is synonymous with what we now know as "Bush Poetry", but back when they were written, such restrictions did not exist and little distinction was given between styles, even blank verse (free verse - No underlying rhythmic structure - was yet to come.) was often mixed with rhyming poems.
Return to WA Past Poets
| Year | Author | Title (click on title for poem) | Published in |
| 1832 | John G Bussell | The Kangaroo is in the Swamp | "Cattle Chosen"- Oxford Uni Press 1926 |
| 1835 | A | Mt Eliza | Perth Gazette Dec 1835 |
| 1835 | Raupo | The Bush | |
| 1849 | Anon | New Song | Perth Gazette Nov 1891 |
| 1863 | E. W. Landor | Prologue | Perth Gazette April 1863 |
| 1873 | Humanitas | A Blackfellow's Appeal | Perth Inquirer July 1873 |
| 1891 | John Boyle O'Reilly | The
Dukite Snake also "Prologue" and "Western Australia" |
"Life, Poems & Speeches of John B
O'Reilly" Cassell New York
Perth "Sunday Times", Feb. 12th 1905 |
| 1894 | Q | T'Othersider & the Perthite | |
| 1894 | David Carnegie | The Spinifex and Sand | on the wall at the Old Perth Mint |
| 1895 | Hugh Vernon | The Cabragonga Gawk | Western Argus, March 23, 1895 |
| 1898 | H Calthroep ditto |
The Wail of a Dryblower Ready Packed for Starting New Jan 2012 l |
Western Argus March 1898 Kal Sun Nov. 27 1898 |
| 1899 | Bob Bell Anon "The Rough and Ready Rhymster From the River" Anon Anon 'Boulder Bard' Anon Anon Anon "Sleeman Rough" Anon |
The Scorcher's Farewell to
His Steed Mildred Has a Beau The Stockman's View Of It The 20th Century Gir The Black Man's Burden Ode to Westralia The Twentieth Century The Fun That Adam Missed St James and the Ladies A Railroad Lament "Painting Fences" |
W A Sunday Times, Jan 1st 1899 W A Sunday Times, Jan 1st 1899 WA Sunday Times, January 15th 1899 WA Sunday Times, February 12th 1899 W A Sunday Times, April 16th 1899 Kalgoorlie Sun April 1899 WA Sunday Times, May 21st 1899 WA Sunday Times, May 28th 1899 WA Sunday Times, May 28th 1899 (likely to be by F Vosper) WA Sunday Times, Sept. 10th 1899 WA Sunday Times, Sept. 17th 1899 |
| 1900 | "The Rough and Ready Rhymster From the River" Anon Unemployed Geo. H & "Jetty Crocodile" |
Briton and Boer A Loyalists Lament The Workmens' Burden At Wyndham & Vindication of Derby |
WA Sunday Times, Feb 25th 1900 WA Sunday Times June 24th 1900 WA Sunday Times July 15th 1900 WA Sunday Times Sept 2nd & Oct 14th 1900 |
| 1901 | F Gibson Anon Julian Stuart Anon |
In
Memoriam (Re F.C.B. Vosper) The Nine O'Clock Brigade The Royal Show also "I am the Man", A Brand of Shame "To a Suffragette" The Tariff |
West Australian Sunday Times,
January 13th 1901 Westralian Worker July 1901 Kalgoorlie "Sun" 1901 West Australian Sunday Times, November 24th 1901 |
| 1902 | Alfred Chandler Anon Anon Anon (likely to be Dryblower) "Coolgardie" (likely to be by "Dryblower") Anon "Westralian" Anon |
Lights Along the Mile An Optimist A Wanderer I Promised Sue New Jan 2012 A Song of Sin O'Lafferty's Luck Unnamed (Re WA Goldfields Women) The Hardest Road |
The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse (1918) p98 Sunday Times, April 27 1902 Sunday Times, May 4th 1902 Kal "Sun" May 25th 1902 Sunday Times, July 13th, 1902 Sunday Times, October 26th 1902 Sunday Times, November 9th 1902 Sunday Times, December 21st 1902 |
| 1903 | "One of the Push" "S.G." "Warrumba" 'Bloated Moses' (likely to be "Dryblower" ) P. Luitig (?) Doss Chideron Anon Jean Dell |
Enough for the Entire Nation The Coolgardie Road The Three Hundred An Absconding Debtors Ditty The Saddle on the Fool Too Classical for Clara The Brush Flannel Flowers |
Sunday Times, March 29th 1903 Sunday Times, May 3rd 1903 Sunday Times, May 17th 1903 Sunday Times August 16th 1903 Sunday Times, August 30th 1903 Sunday Times, September 20th 1903 Sunday Times, September 20th 1903 Sunday Times, October 25th 1903 |
| 1904 | H.L.S. (Yarloop) Sleeman Rough (Kellerberrin) "Hilda" "Spectator" D.B.C Herbert E Reimann No 4 Val Jameson Anon ditto Fabius The Groper Old Tom T.N. (Leederville) Gee Eph Ell |
A Drunkards Grave Dens of Infamy Fireside Memories Mingenew Melange McIntyre's Christmas Duff Disillusioned The Labor Party Bush Mothers Somebody's Luggage The Book Lover When the World Was Young Dimittus The Pedagoging Union Ballad of the Baltic Fleet The (Editorial) Death of Nelson |
Sunday Times, March 6th ditto ditto Sunday Times, April 17th 1904 Sunday Times, April 24th 1904 ditto Sunday Times, July 17th 1904 ditto Sunday Times, July 31st 1904 Sunday Times, December 25th 1904 Sunday Times, November 6th 1904 Sunday Times November 27th 1904 ditto Sunday Times, December 4th 1904 Sunday Times, December 18th 1904 |
| 1905 | W.T.G Temora Alfred Chandler Alfred Chandler Ralpho S.E. Kiser Hermes Sun Spindrift Anon Temora (Leonora)| ditto OPSIL Anon Anon Anon T.C. Anon from Narrogin Advocate Anon Anon Anon Anon Anon Anon (from "Sun") Anon Ada Cannon (Boyanup) Gertie Scarlett (Karridale) from Narrogin Advocate Michael Keavy A.G. Irene Hurley (Wanneroo) from Narrogin Advocate Anon Anon from Narrogin Advocate Michael Keavy Ida Davies Anon Dido "One of Tranter's Victims" from Dampier Despatch Anon Anon A.H. |
Theodora,- A Lovely Heroine When Love Shall Reign Pendinni Joe Coolgardie 1893 Give Back My Hat Be Happy Your Way The Ship of State The Battler's Farewell A Farewell to the Fields The Octopus Farewell to the Bushland A Weary I Grow of the Fighting Our Black Brothers Boiling the Billy The One Difficulty The Mills Football Days Tim's Shopping Expedition Unnamed The Art of Doing Without Tired Mothers The Gawky Age The Blind Boy A Romance in the Rough Son Levy's Utopia The Farmer Feeds Them All Plum Pudding Recipe The Salad Bowl Unnamed The Fitzroy River The Rabbit Proof Fence Buck-Wheat Cakes Wagin Gal New Jan 2012 Freo Ladies Club Poem New Where Red Gums Grow New Little Pieces New Murder New Tipsy Cake New The Bunbury Mammoth Show New The Voice New The Wagin Show New Norstralia New To Phyllis New Wicked Wyndham New A Christmas Parting - Never Again New |
Kalgoorlie Sun 1904, Sunday Times January
1st 1905 Sunday Times, January 1st 1905 Sunday Times, January 15th 1905 ditto ditto Sunday Times, January 22nd 1905 (also Kal. "Sun") Sunday Times, Jan 22nd 1905 Sunday Times, Jan 29th 1905 Sunday Times, Feb. 5th 1905 (also Kal. "Sun") Sunday Times, Feb 26th 1905 Sunday Times, Feb. 26th 1905 (Also Kal. "Sun") Sunday Times March 19th 1905, (Also Kal. "Sun") Sunday Times, Feb. 25th 1905 Sunday Times Mar. 12th 1905 (Also Kal. "Sun") ditto ditto Sunday Times, May 7th 1905 Sunday Times, May 21st 1905 Sunday Times, May 28th 1905 - Also Narrogin Advocate Sunday Times, May 28th 1905 Sunday Times, June 4th 1905 ditto Sunday Times, June 28th 1905 Sunday Times, July 9th 1905 ditto ditto Sunday Times. July 16th 1905 Sunday Times August 13th 1905 Sunday Times, August 20th 1905 ditto Sunday Times, Sept. 3rd 1905 ditto Sunday Times, Sept. 17th 1905 Sunday Times, Sept. 24th 1905 ditto ditto Sunday Times, October 22nd 1905 ditto Sunday Times, November 12th 1905 Sunday Times, November 26th 1905 ditto Sunday Times, December 3rd 1905 Sunday Times December 17th 1905 ditto ditto |
| 1906 | Dorham Doolette Anon |
The Ballade of Cottesloe Beach The Last Day (First Poem in this Paper) |
Kalgoorlie Sun Feb 1906 Geraldton Guardian Oct 2nd 1906 |
| 1910? | Willie Willie | Boulder's Gone Down | |
| 1913 | Julian Mitchell | The Song of the Saw | "By Suns and Stars" Whitcombe and Tombs Melbourne 1913 |
| 1913 | W. C. Thomas | The Terrace | |
| 1916 | Lillian Wooster- Greaves | The Farmers Daughter | |
| 1929 | Anon | The Warder | Sunday Times, Jan. 6th, 1929 |
| 1932 | Oscar Walters | '17 and '32 | |
| 1932 | Anon (possibly Dryblower) | The Vacillator | Sunday Times Sept. 25th, 1932 |
Unknown Goldfields Poets -
During the period 1893 - 1930 there were over sixty newspapers in various towns in the Goldfields, By 1909, this had reduced to only nine.
In these various Publications, there were over 250 poems published by unknown poets
The list below gives the Poem, Publication and Date listed in Reverse Chronological Order.
This list, I retrieved from the internet - I believe it was compiled by University of WA researchersFurther research by myself has indicated that this list is far from being a complete record of poems in these papers which either had no given author or was tagged "Anon" - In one paper alone, there are 3 entries in this list, examination of the paper reveals a further 3 which are not listed here.
In mid 2011, when several months into my research on these poems, I have concluded that a considerable number of them are likely to be the works of "Dryblower" Murphy. - I will attempt to clarify this as time goes on and I gather more of his poems. I make this assumption as some of the titles are also the titles of Dryblower's "Pictorial Posters" . In addition to that, much of the phrasing and style is very "Dryblower" along with (in many of them) a quite complex rhyming structure (A "Dryblower" specialty). In particular I refer to poems indicated in the table below to have originated in the (Kalgoorlie) "Sun" or its sister paper , the (Perth) "Sunday Times" for which company Dryblower worked most of his journalistic career as the resident bard. I also note that on many occasions, the same poems appeared in both the "Sun" and the "Sunday Times" column " "Goldfields Jingles and Back Country Bits" on the same or very close dates.In addition to all of that, while these poems have no listed author, when Dryblower used poems from others, he usually indicated their source (if known). In his own columns however (which had no 'by-line') almost all of his poems (in period 1904 onward) were 'unsigned'. - As my research progresses, I will indicate which of the poems below I consider to be "Dryblowers" - Brian L.
| 65 |
Where the Westral's Run |
The Sunday Times (Perth, W.A.) |
31 December 1905 |
| 66 |
The Old Fossicker |
East Murchison News |
4 November 1905 |
| 67 |
The Boys of the Old Brigade |
Truth |
21 October 1905 |
| 68 |
The Cadet and the Jap |
Westralian Worker |
6 October 1905 |
| 69 |
Campfire Reflections |
The Sun (Kalgoorlie) |
24 September 1905 |
| 70 |
Social Fictions |
The Sun (Kalgoorlie) |
24 September 1905 |
| 71 |
A Fiscal Song |
The Sun (Kalgoorlie) |
3 September 1905 |
| 72 |
Hair Cut, Sir? |
The Sun (Kalgoorlie) |
3 September 1905 |
| 73 |
The Coolgardie Handicap |
The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 27 August 1905 |
| 74 | The Barmaid's Got to Go | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 27 August 1905 |
| 75 | The Morning Trial Spins | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 20 August 1905 |
| 76 | The Man from Kurrawang | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 30 July 1905 |
| 77 | A Cyclist's Yarn | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 30 July 1905 |
| 78 | His First Moustache | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 30 July 1905 |
| 79 | The Mulga Man's Lament (Dryblower) | The Sunday Times (Perth, W.A.) | 23 July 1905 |
| 80 | A South Kalgoorlie Idyll | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 23 July 1905 |
| 81 | The Girl from Piccadilly | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 23 July 1905 |
| 82 | Combo's Strike | The Sunday Times (Perth, W.A.) | 23 July 1905 |
| 83 | The Maid from Mullingar | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 16 July 1905 |
| 84 | The Fate of Bulgobak | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 9 July 1905 |
| 85 | The Man Who Writes 'The Sun' | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 9 July 1905 |
| 86 | The Longford Races | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 9 July 1905 |
| 87 | The Gerty of Timerius | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 2 July 1905 |
| 88 | [Untitled] first line - He loved the poor | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 2 July 1905 |
| 89 | Roll Call in Corea | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 2 July 1905 |
| 90 | Why Women Cannot Join (A Masonic Lay) | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 25 June 1905 |
| 91 | [Untitled] First Line - There was blood and fire from the Murchison | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 25 June 1905 |
| 92 | Men of Boulder | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 25 June 1905 |
| 93 | The Art of Doing Without | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 18 June 1905 |
| 94 | [Untitled] First line - The poet in his humble cot | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 18 June 1905 |
| 95 | The Pushball Match | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 18 June 1905 |
| 96 | The Winter Handicap | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 11 June 1905 |
| 97 | To the Monarchs of the Mile | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 11 June 1905 |
| 98 | Accepted | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 28 May 1905 |
| The Other Fellow's Job | Southern Cross Times & Sunday Times | ? & 28 May, 1905 | |
| 99 | The Song of the Western Men (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 28 May 1905 |
| 100 | [Untitled] First line - Up in the morning and work all day | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 28 May 1905 |
| 101 | Exit Hebe | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 21 May 1905 |
| 102 | The Dago | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 14 May 1905 |
| 103 | The Last Straw | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 14 May 1905 |
| 104 | The Freelances | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 14 May 1905 |
| 105 | Things Are Rather Tight | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 14 May 1905 |
| 106 | A White Australia Song | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 7 May 1905 |
| 107 | The Man in the Street | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 7 May 1905 |
| 108 | Mulga Bill's Soliloquy | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 7 May 1905 |
| 109 | The Local Yap House | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 7 May 1905 |
| 110 | My Mates | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 30 April 1905 |
| 111 | He Got There Just the Same | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 23 April 1905 |
| 112 | Gawd Strike Me Dead | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 23 April 1905 |
| 113 | As We Grow Old | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 23 April 1905 |
| 114 | A Bacchanalians' Dream | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 23 April 1905 |
| 115 | Belles of Hannans | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 16 April 1905 |
| 116 | A Rhyme of the Barcoo Rot | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 16 April 1905 |
| 117 | Lines to the Memory of John S. Turner, Who Perished at Cement Creek, on February 15, 1896 | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 9 April 1905 |
| 118 | The Derelict | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 9 April 1905 |
| 119 | Mates of Other Days | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 2 April 1905 |
| 120 | Mulga Mick's Bonanza Mine (Dryblower) | The Sunday Times (Perth, W.A.) | 2 April 1905 |
| 121 | John Shannon's Billy Goat | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 26 March 1905 |
| 122 | Australia's Animal | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 26 March 1905 |
| 123 | The Fatal Fillet | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 26 March 1905 |
| 124 | The Song of the Worked Out Field | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 26 March 1905 |
| 125 | At the Races (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 19 March 1905 |
| A Pound a Week and Freedom | Sunday Times, | 19 March 1905 | |
| 126 | Mulga Bill's Mash | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 5 March 1905 |
| 127 | Reputation | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 5 March 1905 |
| 128 | The Piccadilly Pad | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 5 March 1905 |
| 129 | One of the 'Old Brigade' | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 5 March 1905 |
| 130 | The Mailman of Mitchell's Creek : How Letters Go Outback ( likely to be Dryblower) # | The Sunday Times (Perth, W.A.) | 26 February 1905 |
| 131 | The Man in the Know Speaks | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 26 February 1905 |
| 132 | When Bushland Calls | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 26 February 1905 |
| 133 | He Went 'Dead Crook' On the Boss (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) / Sunday Times | 26 February / 5 March 1905 |
| 134 | Ballad of Dynamite | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 19 February 1905 |
| 135 | The Man in the Street Speaks | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 19 February 1905 |
| 136 | Boiling the Billy | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) /Sunday Times, | 12 February / 5 Mar 1905 |
| 137 | Jiggin' Yet | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) / Sunday Times | 12 February / 5 March 1905 |
| 138 | The Old Camp in the Throes | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 5 February 1905 |
| 139 | In the Know | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) / Sunday Times | 5 February / 12 Feb 1905 |
| 140 | A Reverie | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 29 January 1905 |
| 141 | The Battler's Farewell by "Sun" | The Sunday Times (Perth, W.A.) | 29 January 1905 |
| 142 | Exiled West | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 22 January 1905 |
| 143 | The Pioneer | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 22 January 1905 |
| 144 | Out of Graft (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) / Sunday Times | 22 January / 12 March 1905 |
| 145 | Labour Movement from Within (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 15 January 1905 |
| 146 | As the Sun Sinks Away in the West | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 15 January 1905 |
| 147 | It Was a Joke | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) | 8 January 1905 |
| 148 | Where Some White Men Lie (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) / Sunday Times | 1 January / 8 January 1905 |
| Swearing Off (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) / Sunday Times | ? / 8 Jan 1905 | |
| 149 | The Tuggsville Band Contest (Dryblower) # | The Sun (Kalgoorlie) (& Sunday Times 1st Jan) | 1 January 1905 |
# indicates that this has been scanned and is available, although not on this website
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