• 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

Back ter Little Lon [poem by Louis Esson]

8 May 2016 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by Louis Esson was published in Red Gums and Other Verses (1912).]

Back ter Little Lon.

Renie’s left her ’usband — eighteen months aw’y,
In ’er cottage, Renie sadly struggled on —
Left poor Bill lamentin’, wen she went astr’y,
Liker lost sheep stragglin’, back ter Little Lon.

Back ter Little Lon, where the flarin’ bar,
Chinee joint and fish-shop, and the buskers are.
Yappin’ ter the pushes, dodgin’ D. and John,
Back among her cobbers, back ter Little Lon
.

Bill, ’oo w’z er lumper, found her there one night,
Hooked ’er inter supper for er friendly chat.
Bill w’z struck, gorblime, Renie looked so bright,
With ’er paint an’ powder, feathers in ’er ’at.

Down at Port ’e took ’er ’ouse — Bill w’z never mean —
Booked ’er in er solemn Church as ’is lawful wife;
Sprung er weddin’ blow-out — proud ’e w’z o’ Ren’,
Yet she ’ankered after summut rortier life.

Tired o’ ’ousehold duties, seldom w’z she found
Scrubbin’ floors an’ washin’-up — them w’z fain fergets;
Pale she looked an’ troubled, tho’ she lazed eround,
Sittin’ on ther door-step, puffin’ cigarettes.

Time w’z ’anging ’eavy, wen she tired o’ Bill,
Nuthin’ seemed ter ’appen then — joy, nor even pain:
Once I seen ’er cryin’ o’er ther winder-sill,
Now yer sees ’er, over there, laughin’ down the lane.

Somethin’ seemed to call ’er — ’tw’z ther joy o’ life —
And them ribald alleys lured ’er on and on.
’S’truth, she couldn’t help it, tho’ she w’z ’is wife,
Now she’s on with Dido, back in Little Lon.

Back ter Little Lon, where the blazin’ bar
Lights an’ fights, an’ fish-shops, and her cobbers are.
Yappin’ ter ther pushes, dodgin’ D. and John,
Renie’s dyin’ happy now, back in Little Lon!
.



Source:
Louis Esson, Red Gums and Other Verses, Melbourne: Fraser & Jenkinson, 1912, pages 34-35

Editor’s notes:
Chinee = (slang) Chinese; a Chinese person; something that is Chinese in origin or style (e.g. a “Chinee restaurant”)

cobber = friend, mate

D. = detective

gorblime = an exclamation which expresses surprise (a contraction of the phrase “God blind me”, which is believed to be a shorter version of “May God blind me if it is not so”, or similar phrases, used to assert truthfulness); variations include “cor blimey”, “corblimey”, “gawblimy”, “gawblimey”, “gorblime”, and “gorblimey”

John = police, policeman, derived from “John Hopper” (or “Johnny Hopper”), rhyming slang for copper, i.e. cop (policeman)

joint = a building, place; shop, place of business, restaurant; home, domicile, residence

Little Lon = Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

o’er = over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)

push = a gang; historically, the term refers to a street gang; may also be used to refer to a group

sprung = (slang) paid

’s’truth = an oath, a contraction of “God’s truth” (also rendered as “Gawstruth” or “Gorstruth”)

yap = talk, chat; especially to talk for a lengthy duration in a constant and annoying manner

Vernacular spelling in the original text:
an’ (and)
’anging (hanging)
’ankered (hankered)
’appen (happen)
astr’y (astray)
’at (hat)
aw’y (away)
’e (he)
’eavy (heavy)
er (a)
’er (her)
eround (around)
inter (into)
’is (his)
liker (like a)
o’ (of)
’oo (who)
’ouse (house)
’ousehold (household)
summut (somewhat)
ter (to)
ther (their)
tho’ (though)
’tw’z (’twas; it was)
’usband (husband)
wen (when)
winder-sill (window-sill)
w’z (was)
yer (you)

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Louis Esson (author) (1878-1943), poem, Red Gums and Other Verses (Louis Esson 1912), SourceIACLibrary, year1912

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

  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]

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