# The Bard of Furthest Out

First published in The Bulletin, 22 November 1906
He longed to be a Back-Blocks Bard, And fame he wished to win He wrote at night and studied hard (He read THE BULLETIN); He sent in stuff unceasingly, But couldn't get it through; And so, at last, he came to me To see what I could do.
The poet's light was in his eye, He aimed to be a man; He bought a bluey and a fly, A brand new billy-can. I showed him how to roll his swag And "sling it" with the best; I gave him my old water-bag, And pointed to the west.
"Now you can take the train as far As Blazes if you like— The wealthy go by motor-car (Some travellers go by bike); They race it through without a rest, And find it very tame— But if you tramp it to the west You'll get there just the same.
"(No matter if the hour is late, The morning goes Out-Back), You do not need a dog nor mate, You'll find them on the track. You must avoid such deadly rhymes As 'self' and 'elf' and 'shelf'. But were it as in other times, I'd go with you myself.
"Those days are done for me, but ah! On hills where you shall be, The wattle and the waratah Are good to smell and see. But there's a scent, my heart believes, That 'travellers' set higher Than wattle—’tis the dried gum leaves That light the evening fire.
"The evening fire and morning fire Are one fire in the Bush. (You'll find the points that you require As towards the west you push.) And as you pass by ancient ways, Old camps, and mountain springs, The spirits of the Roaring Days Will whisper many things.
"The lonely ridge-and-gully belt— The spirit of the whole— It must be seen; it must be felt— Must sink into your soul! The summer silence—creek-oaks' sigh— The windy, rainy "woosh"— 'Tis known to other men, and I— The Spirit of the Bush!
"So on, and on, through dust and heat, When past the spurs you be— And you shall meet whom you shall meet, And see what you shall see, You need not claim the stranger's due, They yield it everywhere, And mateship is a thing that you Must take for granted there.
"And in the land of Lord-knows-where— Right up and furthest out— You find a new Australia there That we know nought about. Live as they live, fight as they fight, Succeed as they succeed, And then come back again and write For all the world to read."
I've got a note from Hungerford, 'Tis written frank and fair; The bushman's grim philosophy— The bushman's grin are there. And tramping on through rain and drought— Unlooked for and unmissed— I may have sent to furthest out The Great Bush Novelist.
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:
* published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
* anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
* government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).
This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.
Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse