• 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
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Stockton [poem by T. Fennell, 29 May 1847]

14 May 2016 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A poem published in The Sydney Chronicle, 29 May 1847.]

Stockton.

Some sing of castellated towers.
Of mail-clad knights and deeds of arms;
Some sing of groves and shady bowers,
And ladies of unrivall’d charms;—

But I of love or war sing not,
I heed not Cupid’s bow or quiver;
I sing about a little spot
Called Stockton, on the Hunter River.

This small republic — for sure such
It may be called: as its white strand
Was ne’er defil’d by despot’s touch,
Nor by police or red-coat band;—

It’s truly, what the wise would say,
A happy spot — where all are free
Either to fight or run away,
Get drunk on rum, or live on tea.

But mark me well — there are no drones,
Who idle dwell within this hive;—
No useless hands, no lazy bones —
For “Rob,” he keeps them all alive.

Yet still, at times, a little drop
Too much of rum or mountain dew
Will cause the best of work to stop;—
But mind, such cases are but few.

For, like great Moore of former days,
Who read the stars, and things foretold,
Our Moore is up to all the ways
Of male and female, young and old.

He, by a shake of head, or blink —
A single sentence, awful “Nay,”
When they call on him for more drink,
Will make the boldest walk away!

No filthy watch-house in the place;—
No night patrol to pick you up;—
No fear that you’ll get in disgrace,
If you by chance take a wee sup.

No! — in the bush you down may lay,
And snore an anthem to the stars;
And when awoke by break of day,
You’re free from handcuffs, bolts, and bars.

Within our walls we’ve men of might,
True men, who boast they have no fear;
Yet never join’d the sanguine fight,
But wield the shuttle, not the spear;—

Who swing the weaver’s ponderous beam,
And clothe the naked by their skill;—
Men who are peaceful as they seem,
For never were they known to kill.

We’ve men who’re dying day by day,
Yet all things do around them thrive;
Though daily dying, strange to say,
When night comes on they’re all alive.

There’s piercers, feeders, stubbers, too,
Spinners and warpers, full a score;
All have as much as they can do,
And would, if there were twenty more.

There is a devil, too, whose roar
Doth make the very buildings shake;
And for his food he swallows more
Than the most savage brute could take.

But not of flesh or dead men’s bones
Does he thus take his belly-full;
Nor yet of brimstone, fire, or stones;
But, strange to say, he feeds on wool!

Ay, wool! — both black, and white, and brown;
Yet all he gorges is in vain:
No sooner does he gulp it down
Than up he throws it all again!

But soon a wond’rous change is wrought —
’Tis spun, ’tis wove, and cloth is made;—
The best that e’er was sold or bought,
None equal to it in the trade.

O Stockton! thou art fam’d indeed,
Thy equal is not in this land:
For making of “colonial tweed,”
Thou proudly dost unrivall’d stand!

Advance, Australia! still progress —
Still may thy trade and wealth increase!
Stockton, I wish thee all success,
And may your weaving never cease!

T. FENNELL.



Source:
The Sydney Chronicle (Sydney, NSW), 29 May 1847, p. 4

[Editor: Corrected “you’re weaving” to “your weaving”.]

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: poem, SourceTrove, year1847

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

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

  • Australia Day [26 January 1953]
  • Australia Day [24 January 1953]
  • Australia Day [29 January 1951]
  • Australia Day [28 January 1950]
  • Danger-signals from Australia [2 January 1942]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
  • The Bard and the Lizard [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

Archives

Categories

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

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in