An Anthology of Australian Verse/Notes on the Poems

NOTES ON THE POEMS

P. 1. Warragamba—a tributary of the Nepean, the upper part of the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales.

P. 16. Soul Ferry, “Founded on a note by Tzetzes upon Lycophron, quoted in Keightley’s ‘Mythology of Greece and Rome.’”—Author’s Note.

P. 19. Sir James Martin, born 1820, Premier and subsequently Chief Justice of New South Wales, died 4th November, 1886.

P. 22. The first six stanzas of The Dedication of Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes to the author of “Holmby House” (Whyte Melville).

P. 24. First printed in The Australasian under the title of “Frustra.”

P. 25. First appeared in The Colonial Monthly without the final stanza here printed, which was preserved by Mr. J. J. Shillinglaw.

P. 30. The phrase—“tormented and awry with passion”—also appears in Walter Pater’s essay on “Aesthetic Poetry,” which, according to Mr. Ferris Greenslet’s monograph on Pater, was written in 1868, but first published in Appreciations, 1889. Leaves from Australian Forests, in which these sonnets were first printed, was published in Melbourne in 1869.

P. 35. Dedicatory verses of Songs from the Mountains.

P. 38. The author’s daughter, named after a town in the Shoalhaven District, New South Wales.

P. 43. Hy-Brasil, or Tir-Nan-Oge, is the fabled Island of the Blessed, the paradise of ancient Ireland.

P. 46. From a poem left unfinished at the author’s death. First printed in Poems (1886).

P. 48. “Tigilan, the son of Tui Viti”; an attempt to paraphrase a legend of Samoa, is remarkable as evidence of direct intercourse between Samoa and Fiji, and as showing by the use of the term “Tui Viti” that a king once reigned over all Fiji. The singularly poetic and rhythmical original will he found in a paper contributed by Mr. Pritchard, F.A.S.I., etc., to the Anthropological Society of London.”—Author's Note.

P. 51. First printed in The Australiasian over the signature “Australis.”

P. 52. First printed in “Flotsam and Jetsam”: reprinted, with alterations, as Proem to “Ranolf and Amohia,” Second Edition, 1883.

P. 53. “A very free paraphrase of a song in Sir George Grey’s collection, ‘Ropa’ is a declaration of love by pinching the fingers.”—Author's Note.

P. 60, 61. Stanzas from “Convict Once” [pp. 336-7, 297-9 respectively of Poetical Works (1902)].

P. 77. “The unexplored parts of Australia are sometimes spoken of by the bushmen of Western Queensland as the home of the Pelican, a bird whose nesting-place, so far as the writer knows, is seldom, if ever, found.”—Author’s Note.

P. 78. Gidra—a Queensiand and N.S.W. aboriginal word for a tree of the acacia speeies (A. homalophylla).

Clay-Pan—a shallow depression of the ground on Australian plains, whose thin clayey surface retains water far a considerable time.

P. 84. Parson Bird—The Tui, or New Zealand mocking bird. The male has tufts of curled white feathers under the neck, like a clergyman’s bands.

P. 103. First printed, under the title of “Ave Imperatrix,” in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), on June 22, 1897, the day of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

P. 123. Adam Lindsay Gordon is buried in Brighton (Victoria) Cemetery. Above the grave is erected a shattered column crowned with a laurel wreath.

P. 141. Apple-tree—an indigenous Australian tree, so called from a supposed resemblance to the English apple-tree, but bearing no edible fruit.

P. 154. Flinders—Matthew Flinders first came to Australia with Bass and Hunter in 1795, and made several heroic voyages around Australian coasts.

P. 163. Mannán—the ancient bardic name of the Isle of Man.

Eiré—the ancient name of Ireland.

The Isle of Apple-trees—“Emhain Ablach,” the Isle of Arran. This was the land of faery to the Northern and Western Gaels.

P. 185. Sir John Mackenzie—Born 1838; for many years Minister for Lands in New Zealand. Died 1891.

Holy Hill—Puketapu, a hill sacred to the Maoris on the Otago coast.

P. 187. Riders—timber used to hold down the bark roofs of primitive bush houses.

P. 190. Mulga—an aboriginal pame given to various trees of the acacia family (A. aneura).

P. 193. Jackeroo—a “new chum,” or person recently arrived in Australia, who goes to work on a station to gain experience.

P. 195. Push—a gang of larrikins, or city roughs.

Rouseabout—a man who does general work on a station.

P. 197. Flax—a native New Zealand plant yielding a strong fibre (Phormium tenax, N. O. Liliaceaa).

Tussock—a native grass, common in New Zealand (Lomandra longifolia).

P. 247. Harbour—Sydney Harbour.

P. 250. Wharè—Maori name for a hut or house.

P. 251. Kowhai—the Locust tree (yellow Kowhai), and the Parrot-bill (scarlet Kowhai)—N. Z. flowering trees.

Rata—a remarkable New Zealand tree with crimson flowers (Metrosideros robusta), which often starts from a seed dropped in the fork of a tree, grows downward to the earth, and, taking root there, winds itself closely round the supporting tree and eventually destroys it.

P. 269. Maui—in Polynesian mythology, the great hero who attempted to overcome Death, which could only be done by passing through Hine-nui-te-po (Great Woman of Night). This Maui attempted to do while she slept. Awakened, however, by the cry of a black fantail, she nipped Mani in two.

P. 273. Weka—Maori name for the wood-hen, so called from its note “Weeka.”

Bell-bird—the korimako (Anthornis Melanura).

Koromiko—Veronica salicifolia.

Manuka—the tea-tee (Leptospermum scoparium and L. ericoides).