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Glossary:
Riverina:
An agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation.
Gundagai:
A country town in New South Wales, Australia, 390 kilometres (240 mi) south-west of Sydney.
Kirk:
Scottish word for church.
Flanders:
The Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium. The battles that took place in Flanders during the First World War centering on Ypres in 1914, 1915 and then 1917, resulted in an unprecedented level of carnage, death and destruction scarcely possible to imagine.
Mirk:
An archaic variant of murk, meaning darkness or gloom.
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Sung version:
John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew:
Another version:
A further version:
Recited:
Jack Thompson
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Synopsis:
Spoilers ahead. Come back to this if you want te read the poem first.
Scots of the Riverina is a 1917 Australian bush poem by Henry Lawson. It relates the story of a boy who left his home in Riverina and is shunned by his family until he dies in World War I.
It is set in the Riverina, New South Wales in the town of Gundagai. It tells of a boy who leaves home at the start of the harvest to move to the city, an unheard of and unforgivable thing for a Scot to do in the early 1900s, according to the poet: "They were Scots of the Riverina, and to run from home was a crime."
The boy's father, the old "Scot of the Riverina", burns all of his son's letters, removes his son's name from the Family Bible, and vows to never speak of his son again. Eventually the boy goes to war and is killed at Flanders. The poem ends with the father writing his son's name back into the bible.
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Poem:
Scots of the Riverina
- Henry Lawson (1917)
The boy cleared out to the city from his home at harvest time —
They were Scots of the Riverina, and to run from home was a crime.
The old man burned his letters, the first and last he burned,
And he scratched his name from the Bible when the old wife's back was turned.
A year went past and another. There were calls from the firing-line;
They heard the boy had enlisted, but the old man made no sign.
His name must never be mentioned on the farm by Gundagai —
They were Scots of the Riverina with ever the kirk hard by.
The boy came home on his "final", and the township's bonfire burned.
His mother's arms were about him; but the old man's back was turned.
The daughters begged for pardon till the old man raised his hand —
A Scot of the Riverina who was hard to understand.
The boy was killed in Flanders, where the best and bravest die.
There were tears at the Grahame homestead and grief in Gundagai;
But the old man ploughed at daybreak and the old man ploughed till the mirk —
There were furrows of pain in the orchard while his housefolk went to the kirk.
The hurricane lamp in the rafters dimly and dimly burned;
And the old man died at the table when the old wife's back was turned.
Face down on his bare arms folded he sank with his wild grey hair
Outspread o'er the open Bible and a name re-written there.
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