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Elsewhere here at the BAR-D, Lariat Laureate runner up Graham Dean's article about the "Australian Cowboy," The Dying Breed led us to collect some Australian links, which are listed below here.     We have features about two classic Australian poets, A. B. "Banjo" Paterson and Henry Lawson.   We pleased to have modern Australian poets at the BAR-D; two of note are: Jack Sammon and Graham Dean.   Australian events, like the Waltzing Matilda Festival, are listed with all Cowboy Poetry events on our Events page.     We welcome additional links and information.  Just give us a holler.     General Links  Poetry Web Sites Books and More

 

General Links 

 

Outback Magazine 
Graham Dean, who wrote the article The Dying Breed elsewhere at the BAR-D about the history of the Australian "cowboy," says of Outback Magazine," these people produce a wonderful magazine about the Australian outback people and their lives."  The site has many articles about people and events.

 

  Jacqueline Curley's Outback Images
When Lariat Laureate runner up Jack Sammon accompanied his poem "Those Droving Days" with an Australian Outback photo by Jacqueline Curley, we had to see more. Jack told us she is "quite passionate about keeping the Australian Outback and Stockman culture alive." When we contacted her, she told us, as Jack had, that "they were lads together in the wilder days of the outback." 

Many of Jacqueline's photos are taken from horseback.  As she says "This is as original as it gets." The background information Jacqueline gave is so interesting, that we'll repeat a bit here:  "I really only began to realise what we have  going for us here when a friend of ours from the Cattlemen's association in Canada, Jim McGregor, came to visit a few years back. As he said his grandfather used to talk about handling cattle the way we still do -- and he was pretty fascinated with us. We have about 100,000 acres of dry range country and run in the vicinity of 4000 Brahman cattle on that. . . " Jacqueline says she tends to concentrate much of her time in the cattle business these days. Do visit Jacqueline Curley's web site for a beautiful collection of images of the Outback.

 

Centenary of Federation - Queensland
The year 2001 marks the centenary of the Federation of Australia, and special events are planned across the nation.  The official site for Queensland includes history and events.  For example, click the Events map for Central West Queensland for a description of the Waltzing Matilda Festival:  "The 2001 Festival focuses on the arts and culture at the turn of the 19th century when our nation was founded. It brings together leading poets, storytellers and performing arts from all over Australia to celebrate our past."

 

Waltzing Matilda Centre
Home to the Waltzing Matilda bush poetry festival, here they say that the Waltzing Matilda Centre is "a perfect introduction to Winton and Matilda Country, perhaps Australia's best-known Outback region. As well as being the 'birthplace' of a national song, it was here that Qantas, Australia's national airline, was formed. Winton is regarded as the 'home' of Australian bush poetry, and nearby is the only place in the world you can see the fossilised footprints of a dinosaur stampede made 93 million years ago."

 

Camel Races
This annual event is held every July.  Learn some history of the early days of settlement and find information at the Boulia Desert Sands site. 

 

Poetry Web Sites

 

Jack Sammon
Lariat Laureate Australian Jack Sammon has an stunning web site, "Those Droving Days," that tells the history of the Australian Drover, an industry he was a part of.  The site includes his excellent poetry, stories, historical commentary, and photos.  Ride over and learn about the history of the Australian "cowboy."  We're pleased to have some of Jack Sammon's poetry here at the BAR-D.

 

Bush Poetry
Australian poet Frank Daniel's Bush Poetry site includes many of his poems and lists other Australian bush poets.  You can register and read his poetry and access the news and events lists.  

 

Australian Bush Verse
Australian Bush Verse is run by Ric Raftis featuring his own poetry plus that of some other modern day poets and several of the old masters including "Banjo" Paterson and Henry Lawson.  His site also includes a history of Bush Verse, links to other Australian sites and a message board where visitors can post requests for information on bush verse.  There is a free newsletter bi-monthly e-newsletter featuring a contemporary poet and a traditional poet, and a forum where "people can seek information on lost poetry and advertise events."

Ric explained why Australian stockmen are called "ringers." He said "The stockmen would chase the cattle and then ride in rings around them until they stood still.  After they had settled, they would then be led off to join the main mob or into the yards as appropriate."  

 

Bush Poetry and Yarns
Multi award winning Australian Bush Poets, Chris and The Grey (Chris Webster and Merv Webster) invite you to pull up a stump and take in their web site featuring the "Laughter and Tears from the Bush."

 

A. B. "Banjo" Paterson
Warren L. Ham's University of Queensland site includes biographical information about the beloved Australian poet, much of his poetry, and links to other Banjo Paterson sites.  See our feature about Banjo Paterson here.

 

Henry Lawson
At OzLit, a page devoted to Henry Lawson tells the history of this classic writer and poet, and includes many links to his writings.  See our feature about Henry Lawson here.

 

Frank Halliwell
Australian Frank Halliwell of Jimboomba has a large collection of his poems on his site, and poems from Corey de Haas and Charlee Marshall.  Frank told us "I live between Brisbane and Beaudesert . . . with a brown donkey, a ginger cat, and a gorgeous golden retriever . . ."  Maybe his "Blossom" poem was inspired by that donkey.  Frank tells us he is a Canadian transplant, who went "to Oz to get my feet warm." Frank is 72 years young in 2001; he started writing poetry about ten years ago.

 

 

Books and More

 

  Australian Artist Dorothy Gauvin has created three beautiful books:  "two illustrated books of Banjo Paterson's Bush poems and stories, and one dedicated to Waltzing Matilda. Also, an adventure novel based on the events leading to Waltzing Matilda. (I was born just 30 minutes from where the song was written.) While not strictly a cowboy tale, the book has a large portion set on a western cattle run (ranch) run by two brothers from California."  Read more about each of these books here on our page devoted to Banjo Paterson. Read all the details here at the GiftsDownUnder.com site.