POETRY IN THE COLONY.

MELINDA is a poetess. I have just determined to reclaim that name from the neuterised terminology of the politically correct era. The 14 poems and prose pieces which Peter Knox has re-located have been found in the regional newspapers of 19th century New South Wales. I am now scrutinising the electronic papers to develop some understanding of  poetry as it featured in these early journals.

Amongst the lyrical and the lamentable there is much variation and not a little fire and tempest.

On WENDESDAY APRIL 16 ,1823, two prisoners were placed at the Bar. Now, what they had been up to was this : They had sent a threatening letter to a Mr Robert Howe. Their names were MR LAURENCE HALLORAN and MR THOMAS WILLIAM PARR.  Mr Howe at  the time was editor of the Sydney Gazette.

http://nla.gov.au.news-article2181823

Mr Howe appears to be very nervous, having been stabbed some 10 months previously.

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ROBERT AND ANN HOWE.

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/AS10236b.htm

A "Lonely Crossing": approaching nineteenth-century Australian women”s poetry.

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-1554354/A-Lonely-Crossing-approaching-nineteenth.html

A LONELY CROSSING

POEM: THE CONVICT

THE CONVICT

Past twelve o’clock and a stormy night,

Hark ! hark! what a hollow groan,

From the cell of the convict took its flight

Twas surely the deepest that grief could start

Twas surely the burst of a broken heart.

To-morrow he dies, and these are the last,

And the saddest hours he will tell

The summons seems borne upon ev’ry blast

And death one each tone of the bell –

For to-morrow he launches his barque alone

On eternity’s tide to a world unknown.

Poor youth ! I remember when guileless and gay.

Together we traversed the heath,

Or silently sat at the close of the day,

The wild rose bower beneath –

And shudder’d to hear his sire relate

The bandit’s doom and the felon’s fate.

But the red cross banner and rolling drum,

Soon drew him away from the plain,

And the rustice with grief said he ne’er would come,

To his native valley again !

I remember his mother’s deep drawn sigh

And the tear that fell from his father’s eye.

Oh! had he but sunk upon glory’s bed,

And slept in the tomb of the brave,

Twould have spared his father’s hoary head,

From his mother’s deep dug grave !

Twould have sav’d his love’s last frantic clasp,

And his friend the pang of a parting grasp.

But tomorrow he dies ! and his last request,

Comes mournfully sad to me –

A bunch of wild roses to plant on his breast,

Pluc’d fresh from his fav’rite tree !

For they’ll wither like him in their early bloom,

And his cold bosom will be their tomb !

L.B.

SYDNEY GAZETTE. 17 MAY 1836.

O’Shaughnessy, Edward (1801 – 1840)

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020271b.htm

Edward’s poems appear in the Gazette under ” E. O’S.”

Here is one sample :

Souls of the Just ! whose truth and love

Like light and warmth once lived below

Where have ye ta’en your flight above

Leaving life’s vale in a wintry woe ?

God has withdrawn you near his throne,

Centre and source of brightness all,

As o’er yon hills the evening sun,

Recalls his beams when shadows fall.

 

But there are wistful eyes that find

A loss in every parting ray,

And there are exiled souls behind,

That long with you to fly away,

Oh ! happy hour, when ev’ry germ

Of captive spirit shall be free,

And shine with you, all bright and warm,

Around one glorious Deity !

E. O’S.

 

The Convict who became Editor of the Gazette as well as poet.

Select chronology of significant Australian press events from 1802 – 1850

Select chronology of significant Australian press events from 1802 – 1850

Compiled by Rod Kirkpatrick for the Australian Newspaper History Group (ANHG)

http://www.nla.gov.au/anplan/heritage/1802-1850.html 

 

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The Australian Newspaper Plan

he Australian Newspaper Plan is an ambitious, ongoing project designed to collect and preserve every newspaper published in Australia, guaranteeing public access to these important historical records. There are similar plans for New Zealand’s newspapers.