It's not easy to edit a guest speaker's report, if said speaker was... me. There's a high risk that it sounds boastful, so I best don't say anything at all! But I think the mob enjoyed my presentation at the club yesterday, on one of my passions: Australian Bush Poetry.So, how come that an immigrant with a bad Swiss accent and a speech impediment that makes it almost impossible for him to pronounce a 'th' (as in this) would be interested in Australian bush poetry? Well, I've been fortunate to be raised in a family where the equivalent to bush poetry (as in Swiss folklore poetry) was popular. There is an annual event 'Fasnacht' (Carnival), where in the olden days a special Carnival newspaper was published. Folks were encouraged to submit stories, preferably in rhyming format. Never mind if the truth didn't get in the way. The stories would often be quite sarcastic (but funny), and the general rule was that, as long as nobody was identified by name (but could easily be identified otherwise), the paper nor the author could be sued for libel. To this day, one of the major regions where this happens annually is in the city of Basel with their Schnitzelbank. I own several books with Swiss (as well as Australian) poetry myself.
In the early nineties, in an advertisement for Clean Up Australia Day, the famous actor Jack Thompson recited the beginning of the last stanza of Banjo Paterson’s ‘The Man from Snowy River’: And down by Kosciusko, where the pineclad ridges raise their torn and rugged battlements on high... awoke my interest. And, as they say, the rest is history.
These days, it is dead easy to immerse yourself in the best of Australian bush poetry. Not just the traditional ones (Banjo, Henry Lawson, CJ Dennis etc) but also modern era authors such as Graeme Watt, Bob Magor, Col Wilson. Visit the website of the Australian Bush Poetry Association www.abpa.org.au where you find dozens of current era, award winning works. Many of them serious, some of them hilariously funny.
Enjoy!