The succinct power of poetry to explain our history has been aired before. In the days when there were no poetry slams, a few lines sent in to the newspaper had to suffice. Although poetry modestly published in a slim volume may have never seen the light of day.
We are fortunate, in the ephemeral collection of the Coffs Harbour Regional Museum, to hold some rhyming lines typed up or penned in ink. And on occasion, they reached us in a published format too. Here’s a taste:
Christmas time at Bonville
The crowds are back at Bonville for Christmas 49
With thousands of new faces,
Four hundred tents all looking fine.
2.
They’ve come from North from South from West
To fish, to swim, to dance
Eat oysters free, put on the spree
And knock round in short pants
Sounds as though nothing much has changed. The remainder of the verses are available to read in Coffs Collections. Sometimes a gem such as this one is tucked away in another publication:
The most prolific poet in our area, current poets excluded, seems to have been the Reverend Henry Edward Hunt. He waxed lyrically about much of our beautiful region, yet again proving that poetry is timeless.