[Editor: This poem by John Neilson (1844-1922), about the explorer Ernest Giles (1835-1897), was published in The Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA), 4 December 1910. This version of the poem differs significantly to the 1905 version of the poem.]
A reference to Ernest Giles in the earlier draft has been made by Mr. Neilson the motive of the following new piece:—
Ernest Giles.
“Ernest Giles, the distinguished West Australian explorer, died at Coolgardie, neglected, unrewarded and obscure. He held, at the time of his death, a junior clerkship in the warden’s office at Coolgardie, where his enormous fund of knowledge was always at the disposal of the miners with whom he came in contact. His invaluable services in the cause of science and exploration, his desperate marches through the waterless regions of the interior, are now matters of history, and are set forth in his book, “Australia Twice Traversed.” Giles succeeded, after incredible hardships, in crossing the country from east to west, and was enabled to prepare the chart that has been used by the gold-seekers of the West. Notwithstanding the years spent in the service of his country, he was permitted to pass the declining years of his life in the wearisome duties of the warden’s office. Giles died as he had lived, brave and uncomplaining to the last. With the free air of the desert around him, he died in his camp.”
The last day’s march is o’er;
He needs no guard around the camp to-night.
Closed are the eyes that through long nights before
Wearied with watching for the coming light.
Eastward and westward far,
O’er many a mountain-chain and desert sand,
Through evening shades, and ’neath the morning 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,
Though 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, as the slow months passed,
With ebbing strength he earned the scanty dole
His country gave. Unmurmuring to the last,
In patience he possessed his gallant soul.
Still faithful to the end, he did endure,
And perished, unrewarded and obscure.
And thus the wanderer 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.
Shall we not honor him
Who stormed the desert’s stronghold, him who warred
For us with pain, and thirst, and famine grim;
Who marched right through where every danger barred.
And traced the paths that guide in the lone west
The keen goldseeker on his venturous quest.
Oh, not in courts of ease
Are trained the master spirits, strong and good.
They hear a voice upon the swaying seas
That calls them forth, and in the darksome wood
They read the signs we cannot understand:
Our vision fails; they see the beckoning hand.
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 wastes, the pioneers,
’Mid those who led afar their slender files,
No braver heart was there than Ernest Giles.
In these and other pieces Mr. John Neilson exhibits a singing gift. To his son, Mr. J. Shaw Neilson, this gift has descended in a finer form. Shaw Neilson has written verses that are quaint and merry, others thrilled with emotion, and some with so delicate a fragrance, so rare a beauty of sentiment and imagery, that they remain in the highest rank of Australian poetry.
Source:
The Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA), 4 December 1910, p. 15
Also published in:
The Coolgardie Miner (Coolgardie, WA), 8 June 1939, p. 1
Editor’s notes:
This version of the poem differs significantly to the 1905 version of the poem, with changes in the following lines: 3, 6, 7, 11, 19-20, 23, 25, 27, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, and 43.
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
file = a line of animals or people, proceeding or walking behind each other in the same direction, led by the animal or person in front (such as soldiers marching in a file or line)
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.
’neath = (vernacular) beneath
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
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
warred = to carry on, conduct, engage in, or make warfare; to engage in a conflict, to engage in hostilities; fought; struggled
[Editor: The second and third stanzas have been separated (i.e. a new stanza commences with “And when the desert’s toils”), which follows the flow of the poem, and also matches the 1939 printing of the poem).]
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