[Editor: This poem, about the explorer Ernest Giles (1835-1897), written by John Neilson (1844-1922), was published in The Coolgardie Miner (Coolgardie, WA), 18 January 1905. Another version of this poem, with some significant differences, was published in 1910.]
Ernest Giles
Lines on the death of Ernest Giles, the distinguished Western Australian explorer, who died at Coolgardie in November, 1897, after years of arduous toil in the service of the country, he was allowed to pass away unnoticed, unrewarded and obscure.
The last day’s march is o’er,
He needs no guard around the camp to-night.
Closed are the eyes that often times before
Wearied with watching for the coming light.
Eastward and westward far,
O’er mountain chain and waste of desert sand,
Where science led him like a guiding star,
He trod the length and breadth of all the land.
And when the desert’s toils
Closed round him and his faithfuls,
None looked back,
While hundreds and yet thousands of long miles
Lengthened, and grew upon the wanderer’s track.
Perchance, in dreams once more,
He saw the dust cloud where his camel train
Came winding down, and on the distant shore
The sunlit billows of the welcome main;
Or smiled to see beneath the azure skies,
The white roofs of the settlement arise.
And then, when years had shorn
His manly strength, he earned the scanty dole
His country gave; unmurmuring to the last,
In patience he possessed his gallant soul,
Faithful and brave did to the end endure,
And perished unrewarded and obscure.
And thus the hero died,
His desperate marches o’er, and it was meet
Such ending: He, the true and sorely tried,
The desert stretching at his weary feet,
His spirit passed to join the noble band,
Within the dim, uncharted Borderland.
Ah! not in courts of ease,
Are trained the master spirits brave and good.
They hear a voice upon the swaying seas
That calls them forth, and in the darksome wood
They read the signs. We may not understand,
Our vision fails; they see the beckoning hand.
Shall we not honour him
Who stormed the desert’s stronghold? He who warr’d
For us with pain and thirst, and famine grim,
Through forest’s tempest wrecked and thunder scarr’d,
Who traced the paths that led from east to west,
The keen gold-seeker on his venturous quest.
Land of the sable Swan,
When thy historians in the coming years,
Tell of the dauntless souls who led the van,
The heroes of thy waste; the pioneers, —
’Mid those who led afar their slender gibes,
No braver heart was there than Ernest Giles.
J. NEILSON,
Sealake, Vic., November 1897.
Source:
The Coolgardie Miner (Coolgardie, WA), 18 January 1905, p. 1
Also published in:
The Northam Advertiser (Northam, WA), 25 January 1905, p. 3
Hamilton Spectator (Hamilton, Vic.), 11 March 1905, p. 1 of the “Supplement to The Hamilton Spectator”
The Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA), 4 December 1910, p. 15 [includes significant differences]
The Coolgardie Miner (Coolgardie, WA), 8 June 1939, p. 1 [includes significant differences]
Editor’s notes:
azure = the blue of a clear unclouded sky
Borderland = (in the context of death) the border area between live and death, or the border area between the land of the living and the land of the afterlife
dole = a benefit paid for the sustenance of the unemployed, especially an allowance paid by the government; charity or sustenance given to the needy, especially at set intervals
gibe = to deride, jeer at, mock, poke fun at, scoff at, taunt, tease; to have a dig at someone in a derisive, insulting, sarcastic, sneering, or taunting manner; to taunt or tease in such a way as to make someone appear to be foolish or stupid
main = the high sea, the open ocean
meet = (archaic) suitable, fit, or proper; also, something having the proper dimensions, or being made to fit; can also mean mild or gentle
See: James A. H. Murray (editor), A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society, volume 6, part 2, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908, p. 304
’mid = an abbreviation of “amid” or “amidst”: of or in the middle of an area, group, position, etc.
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
sable = a colour that is black, dark, or gloomy (“sables” was an archaic term for garments worn for mourning; “sable” in heraldry refers to black); arising from the colour of dark sable fur, as taken from a sable (a furry mammal, Martes zibellina, which is primarily found in Russia and northern East Asia, and noted for its fur which has traditionally been used for clothing); in the context of the Australian Aborigines or African Negroes, a reference to their skin colour as being black
scarr’d = (vernacular) scarred
thy = (archaic) your
van = an abbreviation of “vanguard”: in the lead, at the front; the advance unit of a military force; the forefront in an area, field, movement, profession, or science; the leaders of a cultural, intellectual, political, or social movement
warr’d = (vernacular) warred [see: warred]
warred = to carry on, conduct, engage in, or make warfare; to engage in a conflict, to engage in hostilities; fought; struggled
[Editor: Changed “long miles.” to “long miles” (removed the full stop); “hesert’s stronghold” to “desert’s stronghold”.]
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