People & Personalities
Here are some poems about Queenslanders. Click on the titles to read the poems. Maybe you can recognize something or somebody.
-
"L.L."
1909
by Eva Mary O'Doherty Far off! far off! within the desert rude, In the cold heart of that deep solitude, Two magic letters on the rugged bark, With...
-
A Chance
1847
I want a situation as a shepherd, be it known, On a comfortable station--not too far from town; The country must be timberless, the waters full of...
-
Alone in the Pool
1944
by E.M. England So softly I go that the heron Who waits downstream has not stirred. Perhaps he thinks me a bird; Thinks me a brown bird gliding The...
-
Banjo, of the Overflow
1891
by Francis Kenna My request was not requited, for an answer came indited On a sheet of scented paper, in an ink of fancy blue; And the envelope, I...
-
Dinkum Aussie
2017
He is long, he is lean, he is wiry; He is loose-limbed and carelessly hung; He is quick on the flare-up and fiery; He swears with an eloquent...
-
Exhibition Cameo
1943
by Frank C Francis The music and the laughter simmer down Like an ebbing tide that slinks into the dark, As the last bright firework splutters to a...
-
My Child's Warm Hand
1929
by Colin Bingham My child's warm hand is such a thing That holding it I long to sing My faith in dark futurity My child's warm hand is such a thing...
-
North Queensland Lullaby
1931
by Lucille M Quinlan Sleep, my birrahlee;1 hush, my soft grey dove! Misty grows the cane-field, purple the range above. From the scrub by the...
-
Queer Little Almond Eyes
1928
by Victor Kennedy Queer little deep brown almond eyes Turned to me now with grave surprise What the secrets tarrying there Baffling a world's...
-
Ready Mades
1909
by Mabel Forrest All day she works at the sewing machine, in the factory opposite, Where the staring blindless windows gape in the glow of the...
-
The Average Man
1894
by George Essex Evans His hat looks worn, and his coat-sleeves shine, As I see him step from his 'bus at nine; His boots are pieced and his tie...
-
The First Rain
1928
by Victor Kennedy Out across the bending cane Slowly after seven moons Falls the soaking tropic rain Kindly to the parched ratoons1. And I wander...
-
The lay of the diprotodon
1885
by Robert N. Gunn I DWELL in a black gully deep; My bones they are scattered around, And are daily trod over by sheep - Into dust they will soon all...
-
The Net-Menders
1943
by Brian Vrepont I came upon them by a strip of sea, In a drizzle of rain mending their fishing-net, Four swift brown hands, and lean with industry, Shuttling the thin...
-
The Women of the West
1901
by George Essex Evans They left the vine-wreathed cottage and the mansion on the hill, The houses in the busy streets where life is never still, The...
-
Vale Old Sailor
1976
by Gwen Belson-Taylor For Jim Devaney The old sailor leaves the port Quietly, out of pain. His hand is strong upon the helm And dawning breaks...
-
Waiting
2020
Some few nights in the store-keeper’s hut – tin roof and walls -scarce thirty yards from where the twelve head battery’s crushing feet pounded and crushed...