Back in 1980, when I was 9 years old, I went to the school fancy dress "ball" dressed as a "swagman".
What I mean by that is, I wore an old checked shirt and a terry towelling hat and a pair of old jeans and called it a costume. Let me say that this was back in the days before school "discos" and we all did barn dancing which we practiced every Tuesday afternoon for a number of weeks prior. There were usually two boys in a class who didn't have sweaty hands and I always knew exactly how many I had to dance with before I got to someone with dry hands.
Just an aside, discos were a thing of the 70s and maybe 80s, when are schools going to update to have a school "nightclub"?
Anyways, my teacher at the time, Mr Graham Shirley, was trying to get us all to act out the poem "The Man From Ironbark" and the boys he had trialled as the Man from Ironbark were not cutting the mustard so he decided to make the choice bassackwards and because I had the costume, Iwas next auditioned. He liked me and I went on to have a short career staggering about the stage, yelling bloody murder. Or to be correct "murder, bloody murder". I can still recite most of the poem.
I was going to tell you about Harry, how he was bitten in a ball chasing scuffle at playgroup yesterday, he will be ok but he's going to take some nursing, and as I thought of what to write a (part) line from the poem popped into my head "he struggled gamely to his feet"
The poem is um, very "real" for a class of nine and ten year olds and Mister Shirley caught some flack for teaching it.
Here's a link to the whole hilarious tale.
Here's the stanza I refer to:
He fetched a wild up-country yell might wake the dead to hear,
And though his throat, he knew full well, was cut from ear to ear,
He struggled gamely to his feet, and faced the murd'rous foe:
"You've done for me! you dog, I'm beat! one hit before I go!
I only wish I had a knife, you blessed murdering shark!
But you'll remember all your life the man from Ironbark."
And here we are, a post about school dances and bush poetry. They always say that a piece of writing has a life of it's own. And it did.
Harry makes for sad viewing. My best wishes that he recovers soon.
ReplyDeleteI was very concerned when he refused to eat but he's over that now.
DeleteMy schools never had fancy dress balls, so goodness knows what I would have come as. Some current celebrity maybe.
ReplyDeleteI hope Harry makes a quick recovery.
What any kid wears to a fancy dress event is entirely dependent on the skills and motivation of their mother.
DeleteI believe that some dad's get involved for Halloween but I think it's mostly driven by mums
Best of health to Harry, poor guy.
ReplyDeleteYour story was hilarious and totally unsuitable for under 10s, but the memory lingers on.....
XO
WWW
City vs country is still a snark fest ☺️
DeleteI have never heard of that before! It is so awful for little kids. So, I am quite sure you all enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if everyone enjoyed it but I did!
DeletePoor, poor Harry. I hope he recovers quickly.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how old I was when I was first read The Man from Ironbark. I liked it then, and like it now - and it is MUCH less gruesome than some of the fairy stories (with which I still have difficulties).
I hear you on the sweaty palmed dancers too.
It's a crazy story and I suspect it originated in a real event 😂
DeleteI'm sure the fairy stories were all written during the long European winters!
Oh, poor Harry. I really hope he is back on his paws soon.
ReplyDeleteDon't schools have proms now?
Sx
Ah, yes in Australia it's called the formal. One at the end of year 10 and one at the end of year 12.
DeleteHarry managed a tail wag today😊
I had to read The Man from Ironbark again to recall the whole poem. I can see why Mr Shirley came to receive the flack handed out but there would have been kids who loved the so-called horror of the verses.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't run to anything as exotic as school dances. Folk dancing was the wildest things got at my small rural primary school. I remember one boy folk dancing in his gumboots!
Alphie
Mine was a small suburban school and my year was the second last to do folk dancing at the "ball"
DeleteMaybe the gumboots were for the walk home? ☺️
Firstly, I hope that Harry recovers quickyly.
ReplyDeleteI read the poem and the name "A.B. "Banjo" Paterson" struck a chord. Then I remembered that he wrote The Man From Snowy River.
You're doing well for a non-Australian, heck even a lot of Australians wouldn't know who Banjo Patterson was.
DeleteOne of his lesser known poems which I really love tells the story of a chld tied onto a horse during a flood. The Story of Mongrel Grey
Graham Shirley? That's a mixture of Graham Edwards and my wife! What a shame that your acting career did not develop Kylie! You could have been a star with your name in lights!
ReplyDeleteYou're funny! I have acted a little bit and always enjoyed it
DeletePoor Harry. :(
ReplyDeleteI remember going to church barn dances all the time, and folk evenings. Blimey life was dull then.
And talent nights!
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