Produced by Blue Trumpet for Radio 2RRR, Jove’s Pearls is a collection of verse 'chiefly in the Australian vernacular' by Jovial Mark ... painter, poet, dilettante, and ratbag, hailing from the deep south of South Australia...
The poem...
A time long ago and far away
Spent much of it on me butt
And many a middy or 7 was sunk
Out back of the old bush hut
Four small rooms and a galvo roof
And a Tilley lamp gone phut
A simple life at best it was
Our time at the old bush hut
The bathroom was a billabong
The kitchen a bedourie
A loaded shotgun on the wall
To sort out Myall and Koori
Mates’d drop by in a Packard ute
And we’d go out shootin’ roos
We’d roast the steaks right over the coals
And then get on the booze
We trapped the dog and shot the pig
And the pork enlarged our gut
A fine old time the hunters had
On a spree at the old bush hut
Some times we’d all go on the shick
And get ourselves a lubra
But there wasn’t much meat on their dusky forms
They were thin as the brim of an Akubra
On Sat’dy nights we’d get spruced up
And go to the Institute Dance
I’d knock down me pay on sheilas and grog
That money burned a hole in me pants
But the city banks came and threw us off
Gave the land to a bunch of Japs
Then the pollies took away our guns
I tell yer, it’s a load of crap
The hut is all abandoned now
The track is but a rut
Cockies, bushies, turned to dust
Out back of the old bush hut
Music...
Music featured in the poem comes from the 'Along the Road to Gundagai' by Peter Dawson (1931).
Credits...
Produced by Blue Trumpet for Radio 2RRR
Original verse by Jovial Mark
Adapted for radio by James Benn
With special thanks to Johnny Boxer
Poems interpreted by…
- Johnny Boxer
- James Benn
Introductions and credits by Amie Maguire
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