Calling all bush poets

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – Alice Springs is in the centre of the Outback, so it is no surprise that some good bush verse has come out of the Alice area over the years as well.
 
The region has provided many a good yarn in bush verse form for the annual Bronze Swagman Award for written Bush Verse, held annually in Winton, Outback Queensland.
 
The competition has been conducted for 42 years and in 1974 R. Scott got the ball rolling and had two poems, Bush Heroes and Nullabor 1954 published in the annual volume of verse that goes with the Bronze Swagman competition.
 
It wasn’t until 1983 when Kelly Dixon was living in Alice Springs that the town was in print again – Kelly had poems like Just an Axe-Mark on a Gidgee, The Last of Her Line and To Say Goodbye.
 
The next year Robert Martin entered two selected poems – The Old Tracks and Dedicated to a Grand Old Lady. To follow up, Bob Corby wrote The Shearer’s Nightmare in 1999, and Sarah Schubert My Outback.
 
There has been a bit of a poetry drought around Alice Springs lately, but the committee running the Bronze Swaggie is hoping more entries from the district will be received in 2014.
 
A website dedicated to the Bronze Swagman Award for Bush Verse has some great bush poems to enjoy from past years.
 
Entries for the 2014 Bronze Swagman Award for Bush Verse close on April 30, with entry forms and information on the website. Further info: info@bronzeswagman.info
 
Jeff Close        
PO Box 116, Winton, Qld