[Editor: This poem by John Neilson (1844-1922) was published in Prize Poems, Essay, Novelette and Manuscript Magazine: From the Competition Held in Connection with the Australian Natives’ National Fete, Exhibition Building, January 26, 1893 (1893). Another version of this poem was published in 1910, albeit with only some relatively significant differences. John Neilson won the senior prize for poetry, and his son, John Shaw Neilson (1872-1942), won the junior prize for poetry, in the Australian Natives’ Association literary competition of 1893.]
Senior poem.
By “Eucalyptus” (J. Neilson, Nhill).
The Pioneers.
The shadows fall on the woodland, the bleating flocks are shorn;
The young moon’s silver sickle shines o’er fields of rip’ning corn.
The orchards bend. The clust’ring grapes are hanging on the vine;
The harvest blessings fill the land with corn, and oil, and wine.
The Summer-mist floats on the hills; the days of peace are here;
The mountains wear their floral crown in the evening of the year.
But where are the men of the early years who hewed the forest down?
Whose ploughshares turned the virgin soil, and drew the furrows brown.
The stout of heart, the strong of hand, who planted the infant states;
Who led in the path of the nations, who opened wide the gates;
Who led to the distant regions o’er many an inland plain;
Who trod in the van of the legions that march in Labour’s train;
Who kept their flocks, and gathered in the harvest of the shears;
Our sunbronzed, wayworn, manly men — Australia’s Pioneers.
They’ve traced the course of the rivers, they’ve scaled the mountain chain:
They’ve borne the desert’s burning thirst, hunger, and toil, and pain:
They’ve trodden the path of peril, taken their lives in their hands,
To bring us back from that weary track the tale of the central lands.
Did all return who left us? We bade them all God-speed,
When they marched north to follow the path their dauntless leaders’ lead.
The long months lengthen into years, and ling’ring hope is fled,
Let Fame unroll her golden scroll and tell of the honored dead.
They died in the whirling sand-blast, they sank in the sultry noon,
Some struggled on with weary feet to the bed of the dry lagoon.
And none may tell where Leichardt rests, or where his men repose,
They fell, like Franklin’s gallant crews upon the Arctic snows.
The gallant Burke has perished with none to spread the pall,
Where luminous stars of the desert shine and starbeams softly fall.
And Gordon tells in stirring verse how the ev’ning sun sank low
When the death mist fell on the brave man’s eyes, “Gone where we all must go.”
On Austral’s central mountain Stuart halts his faithful band,
And rears the flag, whose silken folds have kissed the yellow sand.
The desert blast has fanned it, the desert sun looks down,
It floats on high — our country’s flag, in the crest of the mountain brown;
But the dauntless spirit’s passed away, the noble heart is still;
His toils are o’er, who raised the flag upon the central hill.
Though desert-dust has pillowed each noble head to rest;
And faithful hearts have turned to dust within each gallant breast,
They’ll rise again from the arid waste, in the light that shall be given,
When glory falls on the jewelled walls, and battlements of Heaven.
When “sorrow and sighing shall flee away,” and shadows all grow dim,
They’ll walk in the light of the perfect day, and see the face of Him
Who drank the bitter cup, that we might drink of the healing wave.
Who trod the burning sands, that we might walk the golden pave.
When Heaven’s last trumpet thrills the earth, and sounds the knell of the years
O’er desert plain and mountain chain, twill ’waken the Pioneers.
Source:
Prize Poems, Essay, Novelette and Manuscript Magazine: From the Competition Held in Connection with the Australian Natives’ National Fete, Exhibition Building, January 26, 1893, Melbourne: Troedel and Co. (printers), 1893, pp. 5-7
Also published in:
The Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA), 30 October 1910, page 7 [incorrectly attributed to “Neil or Neal, a Nhill farmer”; this version was apparently taken from the memory of a poetry reciter, and contains several errors (or, rather, parts replaced due to poor memory), including the added line ““The Argonauts” of our continent — Australia’s Pioneers”; a corrected version was subsequently printed in the 4 December 1910 issue of the same newspaper]
The Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA), 4 December 1910, page 15 [the first line begins “The shadows fell on the woodland”; however, the third word in that line should be “fall”, not “fell”]
Editor’s notes:
A.N.A. = Australian Natives’ Association
Austral = Austral = of or relating to Australia or Australasia; Australian, Australasian; an abbreviation of Australia, Australian, Australasia, Australasian; in a wider context, of or relating to the southern hemisphere; southern, especially a southern wind
bitter cup = something which is both unpleasant and unavoidable; a task which must be done, despite the expected unsavory consequences; to drink from the bitter cup is to accept one’s fate; the phrase is derived from the Bible (John 18:11, Luke 22:42, Mark 10:38, Matthew 26:39 and 26:42), in which Jesus refers to a cup he must drink from (the New Living Translation version of the Bible, in Mark 10:38, quotes Jesus as saying “Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”; also, the Book of Mormon, in 3 Nephi 11:11, quotes Jesus “I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me”)
Burke = Robert O’Hara Burke (1821-1861), an Australian explorer (born in Ireland); leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition
See: Kathleen Fitzpatrick, “Burke, Robert O’Hara (1821-1861)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
chain = a chain of mountains, a line of mountains, a string of mountains, a series of connected mountains
clust’ring = (vernacular) clustering
ev’ning = (vernacular) evening
Franklin = Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), born in England, an officer of the Royal Navy (UK), Arctic explorer, and Lieutenant-Governor (1839-1843) of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania); Franklin and his crew died during an expedition to chart the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
See: Kathleen Fitzpatrick, “Franklin, Sir John (1786–1847)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
God-speed = an expression which is used to wish someone a safe, successful, and prosperous journey (such as used in the phrase “Farewell and godspeed”); an expression which is used to wish someone good luck, success, and prosperity, especially regarding a journey (also spelt: God speed, Godspeed) (derived from “God”, and the Middle English word “speid”, or “spede”, meaning success, prosperity, good fortune)
golden pave = the golden pavements of Heaven (regarding the concept of Heaven, “where the streets are paved with gold”); derived from the book of Revelation 21:21, in the Bible, which speaks of “a new heaven” (21:1), where “the street of the city was pure gold” (21:21)
Gone where we all must go = a line from “Gone”, a poem by Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870), written about the explorer Robert O’Hara Burke (1821-1861) and the statue of Burke erected in Collins Street, Melbourne (Vic.)
Gordon = Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833-1870) a poet who spent most of his working and literary life in Australia; he was born in Charlton Kings (Gloucestershire, England), and migrated to Adelaide (South Australia) in 1853, at the age of 20; he worked as a mounted policeman, a horse-breaker, a Member of Parliament (in SA), and as a sheep farmer; he became a popular poet, due to such writings as “The Sick Stockrider” (1870); he died in Brighton (Vic.) in 1870
See: Leonie Kramer, “Gordon, Adam Lindsay (1833–1870)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
hew = to chop, cut, or hack (especially regarding the chopping of wood and the chopping down of trees, such as used in the phrase “a hewer of wood and a carrier of water”); to form or shape something (especially by heavy or rough chopping or cutting, such as a roughly-hewn granite statue)
Him = in a religious context, and capitalized, a reference to God or Jesus
knell = the sound of a bell which has been rung slowly (i.e. in a solemn manner), especially for a funeral, or to announce or mark a death; a sound or sign which announces, indicates, foretells, or warns of the death, end, extinction, or failure, of a person, group, movement, civilisation, etc.; a mournful, ominous, or warning sound
Leichardt = Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt (1813-1848), an Australian explorer (born in Prussia)
See: Renee Erdos, “Leichhardt, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (1813–1848)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
ling’ring = (vernacular) lingering
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
pall = a heavy cloth draped over a coffin, hearse, or tomb; a coffin; a cloak, a mantle (can also refer to: a feeling of gloom; a negative mood; a thick cloud of smoke or dust)
ploughshare = the sharp horizontal blade of a plough, used to cut furrows in the ground for farming purposes (also spelt: plowshare)
repose = a reference to those who are buried (at rest, lying down in a coffin or a grave)
rip’ning = (vernacular) ripening
sorrow and sighing shall flee away = a quote from Isaiah 35:10, in the Bible, which says “they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (a similar passage appears in Isaiah 51:11, which says “they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away”)
Stuart = John McDouall Stuart (1815-1866), an Australian explorer (born in Scotland)
See: Deirdre Morris, “Stuart, John McDouall (1815–1866)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
trace = (archaic) to make one’s way along, over, or through something; to follow a course, path, route, or track; to make one’s way along a path or trail; to ascertain, discover, or follow the course of something
train = a group of animals (especially pack animals), people, or vehicles slowly following each another in a line (e.g. a camel train, a wagon train); a retinue of attendants or retainers following an important person (e.g. a king or president); a caravan of animals or vehicles (can also refer to a train of thought, or a train of events, being a line or sequence of thoughts, or of events, which appear to be connected to each other) [in this poem, “the legions that march in Labour’s train” is a metaphor]
twill = (archaic) a contraction of “it will”
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
’waken = a contraction of “awaken”
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