• 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 and booklets
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry and songs
  • Slang
  • Timeline
  • Topics
    • Anzac Day
    • Australia Day
    • Australian Aborigines
    • Australianism
    • Australian literature
    • The Eureka Rebellion
    • Explorers
    • Significant events and commemorative dates

Our Debt of Honour [poem by L. E. H., 11 March 1921]

3 March 2017 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by L. E. Homfray was published in the Darling Downs Gazette (Toowoomba, Qld.), 11 March 1921.]

Our Debt of Honour.

They died to guard our honour,
They died that we might live,
And we, in very honour,
Our humble homage give.
They left their home and country,
And all that men hold dear,
To face for us the battle
Triumphant over fear.

For us they bore hell’s horrors,
For us they fought and died,
And we? Could we forget them
Or coldly turn aside?
When we refuse to honour
The men who set us free,
God’s blessing shall forsake us,
Earth’s riches worthless be.

When we forget those heroes,
When we withhold our hand,
May shame be ours forever,
All shame on this our land.
And so we yield them homage
Upon this solemn day,
And to those men of Anzac
Our debt of honour pay.

L. E. H.



Source:
Darling Downs Gazette (Toowoomba, Qld.), 11 March 1921, p. 3

Also published in:
Logan & Albert Bulletin (Southport, Qld.), 12 March 1921, p. 2
Pittsworth Sentinel (Pittsworth, Qld.), 16 March 1921, p. 2
The Beaudesert Times (Beaudesert, Qld.), 18 March 1921, p. 6
The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld.), 19 March 1921, p. 15
The Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld.), 22 March 1921, p. 10
The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld.), 2 April 1921, p. 44
The Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld.), 14 April 1921, p. 2
Dalby Herald and Record (Dalby, Qld.), 15 April 1921, p. 3
The Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld.), 25 April 1921, p. 3
The Daily Mercury (Mackay, Qld.), 26 April 1921, p. 3 (within an article on Anzac Day)

Editor’s notes:
This poem by L. E. Homfray is almost the same as her poem “Anzac Day”, except that two lines have been changed:

Anzac Day:
4th line: Ungrudgingly must give.
11th line: And we—shall we forget them,

Our Debt of Honour:
4th line: Our humble homage give.
11th line: And we? Could we forget them

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Anzac Day (25 April), Anzac poetry, Editor’s notes additional, Editor’s notes additional 2022, L. E. Homfray (author) (1873-1951), patriotic poetry, poem, SourceTrove, year1921

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

  • Western bush fire: Several crops burnt [5 January 1906]
  • Buy “Australian-Made” [by W. R. Bagnall, 22 June 1928]
  • The Bad Boy [poem regarding Henry Parkes, 12 May 1877]
  • A rod in pickle [political cartoon regarding Henry Parkes, 12 May 1877]
  • “Devil’s luck” [short story, 20 December 1901]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang
  • The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
  • The Bard and the Lizard [poem by John Shaw Neilson]
  • The drover’s wife [by Henry Lawson]
  • No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]

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]

Search this site



For Australia


Copyright © 2022 · Log in