THE INAUGURAL

SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS FESTIVAL OF AUSTRALIAN BUSH POETRY

Village of Sutton Forest NSW

Sunday 30 May 2004

at Sutton Forest Village Hall from 10am to 4 pm

BUSH POETRY COMPETITION 2004

ENTRY FORM

Your name: ……………………………………………………………………….

Address: ……………………………………………………………………….

………………………………… State…………………………. Post Code…………..

Phone: ………………………………… E-mail:………………………………………………….

About the competition. This new competition has two separate sections:-

Ideally, your poetry will exhibit the kind of humour that served to popularise the style and render it enduring in the affection of all Australians.

Tick the box to say which you prefer (or both if you so choose):-

* Performance (traditional) $ * Original bush poetry $

We’d really love to have you perform your new bush poetry at the Festival. If you can’t make it, however, are you happy to have your poems skilfully read to the audience?

* I’ll be there! $ * Go ahead without me $

Your new poems. Please keep each poem on one or more pages of its own, using one side of the paper only. Entries must be typed for ease of reading and judging.

Please write your name and address at the foot of each of your poems.

Closing date. All entries must be in by 4.00 p.m. on Friday 21 May 2004.

Publication. Copyright belongs to the author. Permission is given for the publication of a new poem, once only, in the Southern Highland News, the Highlands Post and in the newsletter and web site of the Australian Bush Poets Association Inc (www.bushpoetry.com.au). Your poems will not be used in any anthology without your written permission.

Judging. The judges’ decision will be final and no debate will be entered into.

Originality. I declare that the new poems I submit for this competition are entirely my own work and that they conform to the entry conditions and guidelines.

Signed…………………………………………….. Date…………………………………………2004

THE INAUGURAL

SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS FESTIVAL OF AUSTRALIAN BUSH POETRY

Village of Sutton Forest NSW

Sunday 30 May 2004

at Sutton Forest Village Hall from 10am to 4pm

BUSH POETRY COMPETITION 2004

ENTRY FORM (CONTINUED)

Your name: ……………………………………………………………………………………………...

SECTION A: CLASSIC AUSTRALIAN BUSH POEMS: PERFORMANCE - TRADITIONAL

State your choice of bush poems in order of preference.

Nominations will be selected for performance by the organisers according to available time

and to avoid duplication. Running sheets will be displayed in the Sutton Forest Village Hall,

the venue for the competition.

 

1. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Prize: $50

 

 

1. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Prize: $50

 

 

1. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Prize: $100

 

 

SECTION B: NEW AUSTRALIAN BUSH POEMS: AUTHORSHIP

Prize: $100

Title of your poem: ……………………………………………………………………………………

Prize: $100

Title of your poem: ……………………………………………………………………………………

Prize: $100

Title of your poem: ……………………………………………………………………………………

Prize: $100

Title of your poem: ……………………………………………………………………………………

Prize: $100

Title of your poem: ……………………………………………………………………………………

Prize: $100

Title of your poem: ……………………………………………………………………………………

Prize: $100

Title of your poem: ……………………………………………………………………………………

ENTRY FEE: $5 for each poem (performance or original)

payable to A Little Piece of Scotland.

FIRST PRIZE: $1,000 for the overall champion new poem that is judged to best reflect the

objectives of the festival.

SECTION

WINNERS: $50 to $100 as shown above

Submit entry

forms to: The Southern Highlands Festival of Australian Bush Poetry

care of A Little Piece of Scotland

SUTTON FOREST NSW 2577

Enquiries: Garry Barnsley OAM

Mail: PO Box 438, Bowral, NSW, 2576

Phone: Office: (02) 4862-1411

Home: (02) 4871-2060

E-mail: barnowl@acenet.com.au

THE INAUGURAL

SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS FESTIVAL OF AUSTRALIAN BUSH POETRY

Village of Sutton Forest NSW

Sunday 30 May 2004

NEW BUSH POETRY COMPETITION 2004

Guidelines for poets: competition sections

Poets can choose among a selection of themes for inspiration:-

bushie. Be reverent, be sentimental – but, above all, be humorous!

(Sponsored by Allan Reekie Ford, Bowral).

farm in Ayrshire and began his working life as a farmer. But if Robbie had ploughed the soil here rather than there, can you imagine how his much-acclaimed poetry may have spoken about the Australian bush, its characters and wildlife? And what might have been the subject of his ‘Address’ in the absence of a haggis…?

Add a verse or two in praise of the contribution that Scots have made to the evolution of modern Australia – and you’re on a winner!

(Sponsored by the Scottish-Australian Heritage Council).

Ireland. Former Governor General, Bill Hayden (who famously spoke about a certain ‘drover’s dog’) wrote in his autobiography:

"Australian culture too, resonates with the unmistakable Irish influences, a rebelliousness, a suspicion of authority, a touchy cockiness, a testy combativeness, a self-deprecating humour…we take from the Irish their penchant for admiring noble heroes who sacrificed themselves to lost causes…This is central to the Irish psyche. Think of Ned Kelly, Les Darcy, Phar Lap…the heroic legend-making from Gallipoli, Anzac Day, we commemorate a heroic defeat as our national apotheosis."

Have you got an Irish heritage? Show us what you can do with rhyming words that fall from lips that have kissed the Blarney Stone!

(Sponsored by The Sutton Forest Inn).

 

 

average of 99.94. That’s nearly double the next best. And he was a great Australian who contributed to our nation just as much off the cricket field as on it. Will we ever see his like again? To dismiss the possibility is to waste his legacy of triumph in the face of adversity, of the power of determination, and of the worth of community service.

Here’s your chance to remember ‘the Don’ in verse – and speculate about the enduring gift he has left his fellow Australians.

(Sponsored by Bowral’s world famous Bradman Museum).

the latest member of an international community of towns that celebrate the timeless majesty of books. It’s all done through a Book Trail leading you to all the local bookshops, a Book Fair, a Festival of the Book, poetry readings and recitations.

Now’s your chance to write about your love affair with books, about your favourite book, or about the author or characters who inspire you most.

While here in the Southern Highlands for the bush poetry, take an hour or two to visit the Book Fair in Bowral’s Memorial Hall. It’s open for buyers and browsers all weekend.

(Sponsored by the Southern Highlands Booksellers’ Association).