[Editor: A poem by “Kookaburra”. Published in The Eltham and Whittlesea Shires Advertiser and Diamond Creek Valley Advocate, 14 March 1919.]
Kookaburra’s Rhymes.
They are only simple verses
Written by a farming man,
So be lenient with your curses
If you do not like his plan.
He is just engaged at farming
In an ordinary way,
And though seasons are alarming
He can make the business pay.
So his work goes on unceasing,
Every day is much the same;
Still the profits are increasing
From the dairy farming game.
He does not care if little skits
Offend or please the eyes;
He’s not depending on his wits
So need not advertise.
He has never been to college
In dead languages to delve;
But was partly full of knowledge
When he finished school at twelve.
He’s had Nature for a teacher
In his work upon the farm;
And has studied every feature
That could interest and charm.
And to make him even bolder
He has travelled through the land
With a swag upon his shoulder
And a billy in his hand.
It was then he got the teaching
That has been to him of use,
And not from the parson’s preaching
Or the pedagogue’s abuse.
If at learning you’re a failure,
Drop your books and drop your play;
Many leaders of Australia
Carried bluey in their day.
— Kookaburra.
Source:
The Eltham and Whittlesea Shires Advertiser and Diamond Creek Valley Advocate (Hurstbridge, Vic.), 14 March 1919, p. 2
Editor’s notes:
bluey = a blanket; also may refer to a swagman’s bundle (a “swag”, being a number of items rolled up in a blanket)
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