• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
  • Slang
  • Timeline
  • Topics
    • Anzac Day
    • Australia Day
    • Australian Aborigines
    • Australianism
    • Australian literature
    • The Eureka Rebellion
    • Explorers
    • Significant events and commemorative dates

Kooroora [poem by Henry Kendall]

10 October 2013 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by Henry Kendall was published in Poems and Songs (1862).]

Kooroora.

The gums in the gully stand gloomy and stark ;
A torrent beneath them is leaping ;
And the wind goes about like a ghost in the dark,
Where a chief of Wahibbi lies sleeping !
He dreams of a battle — of foes of the past,
But he hears not the whooping abroad on the blast,
Nor the fall of the feet that are travelling fast.
Oh ! why dost thou slumber, Kooroora ?

They come o’er the hills in their terrible ire,
And speed by the woodlands and water ;
They look down the hills at the flickering fire,
All eager and thirsty for slaughter.
Lo ! the stormy moon glares like a torch from the vale,
And a voice in the beela grows wild in its wail,
As the cries of the Wanneroos swell with the gale —
Oh ! rouse thee and meet them, Kooroora !

He starts from his sleep and he clutches his spear,
And the echoes roll backward in wonder,
For a shouting strikes into the hollow woods near,
Like the sound of a gathering thunder.
He clambers the ridge with his face to the light,
The foes of Wahibbi come full in his sight —
The waters of Mooki will redden to-night.
Go ! and glory awaits thee Kooroora.

Lo ! yeelamans splinter, and boomerangs clash,
And a spear through the darkness is driven ;
It whizzes along like a wandering flash
From the heart of a hurricane riven.
They turn to the mountains that gloomy-browed band,
The rain droppeth down with a moan to the land,
And the face of a chieftain lies buried in sand.
Oh ! the light that was quenched with Kooroora !

To-morrow the Wanneroo dogs will rejoice,
And feast in this desolate valley ;
But where are his brothers — the friends of his choice ?
And why art thou absent, Ewalli ?
Now Silence draws back to the forest again,
And the wind, like a wayfarer, sleeps on the plain,
But the cheeks of a warrior bleach in the rain.
Oh ! where are thy mourners, Kooroora ?



Source:
Henry Kendall, Poems and Songs, J. R. Clarke, Sydney, 1862, pages 17-19

Editor’s notes:
beela = (an alternative spelling of “belah”, also spelt “belar”) an casuarina tree (Casuarina glauca; commonly known as the swamp she-oak, grey oak, or river oak) found in New South Wales and Queensland; or, a tall or spreading tree (Acacia excelsa) found in northern NSW and Queensland

yeelaman = (an alternative spelling of “hielaman”) a long shield made from bark or wood, used by Australian Aborigines

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Henry Kendall (author) (1839-1882), poem, Poems and Songs (Henry Kendall 1862), SourceArchiveOrg, year1862

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Vale! Percy Mahoney [by H. A. Burton, 14 December 1950]
  • Early-day sportsman’s death [obituary of Percy Mahoney, 7 December 1950]
  • Visits to the IAC site from various countries
  • Poems by J. Shaw Neilson [book review, 22 December 1923]
  • “Australia in Palestine” [book review, 6 November 1919]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Click Go the Shears [folk music, lyrics; traditional Australian song, 1890s]
  • The drover’s wife [by Henry Lawson]

Categories

Archives

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • Rawlinson R on Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Mike Gregory on Australian slang
  • Peter Morgan on Rise of the wool industry: John Macarthur’s work for Australia [chapter 10 of “The story of Australia” by Martin Hambleton]
  • raymond on Ballad and Lyrical Poems [by John Shaw Neilson, 1923]
  • IAC on Ballad and Lyrical Poems [by John Shaw Neilson, 1923]

Search this site



For Australia


Copyright © 2022 · Log in