The Maori's Wool

  Now, this is just a simple tale to tell the reader how
  They civilised the Maori tribe at Rooti-iti-au.

       .    .    .    .    .

  The Maoris are a mighty race—the finest ever known;
  Before the missionaries came they worshipped wood and stone;
  They went to war and fought like fiends, and when the war was done
  They pacified their conquered foes by eating every one.
  But now-a-days about the pahs in idleness they lurk,
  Prepared to smoke or drink or talk—or anything but work.
  The richest tribe in all the North in sheep and horse and cow
  Were those who led their simple lives at Rooti-iti-au.

  'Twas down to town at Wellington a noble Maori came,
  A Rangatira of the best, Rerenga was his name—
  (The word Rerenga means a “snag”—but until he was gone
  This didn't strike the folk he met—it struck them later on).
  He stalked into the Bank they call the “Great Financial Hell”,
  And told the Chief Financial Fiend the tribe had wool to sell.
  The Bold Bank Manager looked grave—the price of wool was high.
  He said, “We'll lend you what you need—we're not disposed to buy.
  You ship the wool to England, Chief!—You'll find it's good advice,
  And meanwhile you can draw from us the local market price.”
   The Chief he thanked him courteously and said he wished to state
  In all the Rooti-iti tribe his mana would be great,
  But still the tribe were simple folk, and did not understand
  This strange finance that gave them cash without the wool in hand.
  So off he started home again, with trouble on his brow,
  To lay the case before the tribe at Rooti-iti-au.

  They held a great korero in the Rooti-iti clan,
  With speeches lasting half a day from every leading man.
  They called themselves poetic names—“lost children in a wood”;
  They said the Great Bank Manager was Kapai—extra good!
  And so they sent Rerenga down, full-powered and well-equipped,
  To draw as much as he could get, and let the wool be shipped;
  And wedged into a “Cargo Tank”, full up from stern to bow,
  A mighty clip of wool went Home from Rooti-iti-au.

  It was the Bold Bank Manager who drew a heavy cheque;
  Rerenga cashed it thoughtfully, then clasped him round the neck;
  A hug from him was not at all a thing you'd call a lark—
  You see he lived on mutton-birds and dried remains of shark—
  But still it showed his gratitude, and, as he pouched the pelf,
  “I'll haka for you, sir,” he said, “in honour of yourself!”
   The haka is a striking dance—the sort they don't allow
  In any place more civilised than Rooti-iti-au.

  He “haka'd” most effectively—then, with an airy grace
  Rubbed noses with the Manager, and vanished into space.
  But when the wool-return came back, ah me, what sighs and groans!
  For every bale of Maori wool was loaded up with stones!
  Yes—thumping great New Zealand rocks among the wool they found;
  On every rock the Bank had lent just seven pence a pound.
  And now the Bold Bank Manager, with trouble on his brow,
  Is searching vainly for the chief from Rooti-iti-au.

The Angel's Kiss

  An angel stood beside the bed
  Where lay the living and the dead.

  He gave the mother—her who died—
  A kiss that Christ the Crucified

  Had sent to greet the weary soul
  When, worn and faint, it reached its goal.

  He gave the infant kisses twain,
  One on the breast, one on the brain.

  “Go forth into the world,” he said,
  “With blessings on your heart and head,

  “For God, who ruleth righteously,
  Hath ordered that to such as be

  “From birth deprived of mother's love,
  I bring His blessing from above;

  “But if the mother's life He spare
  Then she is made God's messenger

  “To kiss and pray that heart and brain
  May go through life without a stain.”

  The infant moved towards the light,
  The angel spread his wings in flight.

  But each man carries to his grave
  The kisses that in hopes to save
  The angel or his mother gave.

Sunrise on the Coast

  Grey dawn on the sand-hills—the night wind has drifted
   All night from the rollers a scent of the sea;
  With the dawn the grey fog his battalions has lifted,
   At the call of the morning they scatter and flee.

  Like mariners calling the roll of their number
   The sea-fowl put out to the infinite deep.
  And far over-head—sinking softly to slumber—
   Worn out by their watching, the stars fall asleep.

  To eastward, where resteth the dome of the skies on
   The sea-line, stirs softly the curtain of night;
  And far from behind the enshrouded horizon
   Comes the voice of a God saying “Let there be light.”

  And lo, there is light!  Evanescent and tender,
   It glows ruby-red where 'twas now ashen-grey;
  And purple and scarlet and gold in its splendour—
   Behold, 'tis that marvel, the birth of a day!

The Reveille

  Trumpets of the Lancer Corps,
   Sound a loud reveille;
  Sound it over Sydney shore,
  Send the message far and wide
  Down the Richmond River side—
  Boot and saddle, mount and ride,
   Sound a loud reveille.

  Whither go ye, Lancers gay,
   With your bold reveille?
  O'er the ocean far away
  From your sunny southern home,
  Over leagues of trackless foam,
  In a foreign land to roam
   With your bold reveille.

  When we hear our brethren call,
   Sound a clear reveille.
  Then we answer, one and all,
  Answer that the world may see,
  “Of the English stock are we,
  At their side we still will be”—
   That's our bold reveille.

  [End of original text.]

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Pocket Editions for the Trenches

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     Saltbush Bill, J.P.  By Major A. B. Paterson (“The Banjo”)
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     The Australian, and other Verses.  By Will H. Ogilvie
     Songs of a Sentimental Bloke.  By C. J. Dennis
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[End Original Advertisement]

About the author:

Andrew Barton Paterson was born on 17 February 1864 at Narambla, New South Wales. He lived at Illalong station until he was ten, when he went to Sydney to attend school. He trained as a solicitor (a type of lawyer) but also contributed some verse to the Sydney “Bulletin” under the pseudonym of “The Banjo”, taken from the name of a horse. His first book, “The Man from Snowy River”, was published in 1895, and has sold more copies than any other book of Australian poetry. He later gave up law to become a journalist, and went to South Africa to report on the Boer War. When World War I broke out he sought work as a war correspondent, but failed to get it. He then went to work driving an ambulance in France, and later became a Remount Officer with the Australian forces then in Egypt. After returning to Australia in 1919 he continued as a writer, and died in Sydney on 5 February 1941.

Paterson's most famous work is “Waltzing Matilda”, written in 1895, and now an unofficial anthem of Australia. “The Man from Snowy River” has since become the inspiration for a well-known movie of the same name, and even a series on a cable television network. “Clancy of the Overflow” is similarly well known.

An incomplete Glossary of Australasian and obscure terms:

Billabong: A waterhole that dries up during the dry season.

Billy: A kettle used for camp cooking, especially to boil water for tea.

Box: When referring to plants, it can be any of a number of trees and shrubs, especially those of genus Buxus or genus Eucalyptus.

Cocky/cockatoo: A small-time farmer.

Coolabah: (more often Coolibah) Eucalyptus microtheca. The leaves of the Eucalyptus hang sideways, with the narrow edge to the sun, as an adaptation to drought. Hence they are famous for not providing shade.

Edward Rex: (Rex = King) Edward VII, 1841-1910, King of the United Kingdom (and therefore nominal head of state in Australia) from 1901 to 1910.

Fi. fa.: fieri facias—a legal paper authorising the seizure of a debtor's goods.

Flash: Ostentatious; fake; (obsolete) relating to shady characters.

Gully-raker: A person who musters unbranded cattle (or horses).

Humpy: (Aboriginal) A rough or temporary hut or shelter in the bush, especially one built from bark, branches, and the like. A gunyah, wurley, or mia-mia.

Jumbuck: A sheep.

Korero: (Maori) a discussion, meeting, etc.

Leichhardt, Ludwig [1813-1848?]: Prussian-born Australian explorer, his last expedition (in 1848) never returned.

Matilda: A swag. See “Waltz Matilda”.

Mob: When referring to animals, a group or herd.

Myall: An Aborigine living according to tradition; wild; any of several types of wattle trees (genus Acacia).

Native bear: A koala.

Overland: (Historical) A route by land, especially for driving stock, and especially a route from New South Wales to South Australia; to drive stock by land, especially on this route.

Overlander: One who travels or drives stock overland.

Paddy-melon/paddymelon/pademelon: One of several species of wallabies, of the genus Thylogalefound.

Pah/Pa: A Maori village.

Pannikin: A small pan; also (colloquial), self-important.

Push: Any group of people sharing something in common; a gang.

Rangatira: (Maori) a lord, chief, boss, etc.

Ringer: When speaking of shearing sheep, the fastest shearer in the group.

Saltbush: Any of a number species of the family Chenopodiaceae, especially of genus Atriplex and of genus Rhagodia, the latter of which is limited to Australia and New Zealand. Used as a grazing crop, saltbush can grow in arid, saline, or alkaline conditions; the region where saltbush grows.

Selector: A free selector, a farmer who selected and settled land by lease or license from the government.

Shout: To buy a round of drinks.

Squatter: A person who first settled on land without government permission, and later continued by lease or license, generally to raise stock; a wealthy rural landowner.

Station: A farm or ranch, especially one devoted to cattle or sheep.

Sturt, Charles [1795-1869]: Indian-born Australian explorer, explored eastern Australia, his explorations led to the discovery of the river system in southeastern Australia.

Sundowner: (Historical) A swagman who arrives at a place too late for work, but looking for food and/or shelter.

Swag: A bundle or roll of bedding and other personal items.

Swagman: A man who travels from place to place looking for work, e.g. carrying a swag.

Tucker: Food.

Wallaby: One of a number of marsupial species of the genus Wallabia, etc., related to the kangaroo, but smaller; (colloquial) “on the wallaby (track)”, on the move, on the road.

Waltz Matilda: To wander with a swag. “Waltz”, to travel in circles.

Warrigal: Originally the dingo, or native dog of Australia; by association, anything wild; brumbies (wild horses).

Water-bag/waterbag: A bag for carrying water, usually canvas.

Wattle: Any of a number of shrubs or trees of the genus Acacia, having off-white or yellow flowers. So named because the branches were used to weave wattle, a type of construction made of interwoven branches and the like.

Wombat: Any of several species of burrowing marsupials, family Vombatidae, which vaguely resemble small bears; (colloquial) an ignorant person.

Yarran: A small tree, Acacia homalophylla, also the bastard myall, A. glaucescens.

Notes on the text:

“An Answer to Various Bards” appeared 10 Oct. 1892 as one of a series of poems in the Sydney 'Bulletin', debating what life in the bush was like, or, the city versus the bush (according to the interpretation), primarily between A. B. Paterson and Henry Lawson [1867-1922], who may have staged the debate as a way of selling more poems.

Other writers joined the debate, including Edward Dyson [1865-1931], who, despite Paterson's remark in this poem, also favoured the bush in at least one poem. Another noted participant was Will Ogilvie [1869-1963] who was in Australia during the 1890's (born in Scotland, returned in 1901, and was in Iowa, U.S.A, from 1905 to 1907).

Other verses from the debate maybe found in “The Man from Snowy River” by Paterson and “In the Days When the World was Wide” by Henry Lawson.

The second stanza was mistakenly broken into two equal parts in the original edition.

“'Shouting' for a Camel”: A number of camels were brought to Australia, with their Afghan handlers, in order to have suitable beasts of burden in the desert regions. There are still wild camels there today. (A similar scheme was tried in America during the 1800's, but no camels remain.)

  “The Gundaroo Bullock”:

  [ Said Morgan, “Tis the carcase of an old man native bear. ]
    changed to:
  [ Said Morgan, “'Tis the carcase of an old man native bear. ]

“Lay of the Motor-Car”: To put this poem in perspective, it must be remembered that this book was published in 1917, and the poem written earlier. It may be helpful to compare Paterson's short story, “Three Elephant Power”, in the book of the same name that was published in the same year. The plot centres around a speed demon who would drive at unspeakable speeds, even up to 45 MPH! (About 72 Km/H.)

  “The Mylora Elopement”:

  [ No thought has be but for his prize. ]
    changed to:
  [ No thought has he but for his prize. ]

  “The Protest”:

  [ W ll, but I KNOW. ]
    changed to:
  [ Well, but I KNOW. ]

  “The Maori's Wool”:

  [ In any place more civilised that Rooti-iti-au. ]
    changed to:
  [ In any place more civilised than Rooti-iti-au. ]

“The Lost Drink”, “The Matrimonial Stakes”, “Not on It”, “The Scapegoat”, “The Angel's Kiss”, and “The Reveille” were all dropped from “Saltbush Bill” when it was included in Paterson's “Collected Verse” (first issued in 1921). No poems were added, though “The Song of the Pen” moved from the front of the book to the back, and several titles were slightly changed. No effort has been made to compare the texts.

There was no Table of Contents in the original trench-edition; one was added.

Omitted from the original are the index (to Paterson's first 3 books) and the “frontispiece and vignette by Lionel Lindsay”, the first of which was set above the lines:

    “But when the dawn makes pink the sky
     And steals across the plain,
    The Brumby horses turn and fly
     Towards the hills again.”
 

which is a (mis)quote of the fourth stanza of “Brumby's Run” (should be “steals along the plain”).