A Poet’s Story

I suppose, like most people, my outlook on life and indeed my understanding of the world itself was very much tailored by my childhood years.

As a child of 1950’s Australia, I spent most of my early years on the family’s remote sheep station situated in the mulga lands of South West Queensland.

While very isolated from mainstream life, those early years instilled in me the strong sense of family ethics and love for the Australian outback.

As I grew and pursued my career in rural and urban Queensland, my love for the outback and Australia’s way of life continued to grow. Initially confined to musings, or retirement poems for work colleagues, I was encouraged and supported by my family and friends to grow my love of the written word.

Today, I am an active member of the Australian Bush Poets Association (ABPA), as the Association’s Queensland representative, and I am also co-founder of the Toowoomba Bush Poets’ group.

Australian Bush Poetry today is no longer confined to the outback. Just as the structure and nature of the Australian population has evolved, so has Australian Bush Poetry. Today, it embraces and celebrates all facets of the Australian way of life and its people, both urban and rural.

I see poetry as painting pictures with words and I try to create an image in the readers’ mind. These images may elicit emotions of happiness, sorrow, contemplation or even anger, depending on the context of the poem.

Often in my writing, a character called ‘Paroo Fred’ will appear. I feel this fictional character epitomises the simple down-to-earth personality that is the Australian bushman.

In my poetry, I attempt to pay respect to this ancient land, its first inhabitants and indeed to everyone who now proudly calls Australia home.