Edward

Edward Dyson was a versatile Australian writer and poet known for his prose and poetry that vividly depicted the lives and experiences of miners and working-class people in Australia. Born on March 4, 1865, in Ballarat, Victoria, Dyson worked in various manual labor roles in the mining industry before turning to writing. His works often drew from his firsthand experiences and offered a unique perspective on the struggles and triumphs of everyday Australians. Dyson passed away on August 22, 1931.

March 4, 1865

August 22, 1931

English

Edward

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Peter Simson's Farm

Simson settled in the timber when his arm was strong and true,
And his form was straight and limber; and he wrought the long day through
In a struggle, single-handed, and the trees fell slowly back,
Twenty thousand giants banded gainst a solitary jack.

Through the fiercest days of summer you might hear his keen axe ring
And re-echo in the ranges, hear his twanging crosscut sing;
There the great gums swayed and whispered, and the birds were skyward blown,
As the circling hills saluted oer a bush king overthrown.

Clearing, grubbing, in the gloaming, strong in faith the man descried
Heifers sleek and horses roaming in his paddocks green and wide,
Heard a myriad corn-blades rustle in the breezes soft caress,
And in every thew and muscle felt a joyous mightiness.

...

Edward

Quits

Ben Ungers wife was dark and small,
With little, round, black eyes;
Ben Unger started at her call,
For Ben had been made wise.
No dirge could crush his spirit but
The one by Annie sung;
No whip-lash ever made could cut
Like Annie Ungers tongue.

But Annie had a round, red cheek,
A figure like a plum,
And Henderson from up the creek
In courtship sly would come.
Then Annie voiced no angry call,
Here dirge remained unsung,
And very gentle was the fall
Of Annie Ungers tongue.

Ned Holman went to Ben upon
The hill in Colters hay.
He said: your wife with Henderson
Ran off at ten to-day!
Ben stood stock still. All right! said he;
Then with a little laugh:
That makes us quits at last. Twas me
That stole his brindl...

Edward

Repaired

Hauled I was from out the tip
Fritz made with his demonstration,
All broke up, a fractured hip
In me Darby Kell a rip
Settn' up a cool sensation
Like excessive ventilation

One 'and cluttered up a treat,
On me oath you wouldn't know it
From a 'and some plate of meat.
They had sorter pied me feet,
And a bullet of the foe hit
Where no decent bloke could show it.

'Arf a year they've botched me now;
Ev'ry scientific schemer
In the cor' has faked me prow,
Soled 'n' heeled a bloke somehow,
Gawd, the last one was a screamer.
Wirin' up me flamin' femur!

Comes a guy and pipes you square,
Gogglin' at you through his glasses,
Swings you in the barber's chair,
Tilts you this end up with care,
Lets you have a whiff of gasses

Edward

Simple Sister Goes To Sydney

When Flo resolved to go to town from brothers three a yell went up,
Predicting ruin and distress. Bill in his horror dropped a cup.
Gorstruth! he said, in Sydney there what is a simple girl to do?
They took me down. I lost me watch and seven quid. What ope for you?

Ben turned on her in pale dismay. Look here, me girl, aint you bin told
How one iv them there spieler blokes done me for twenty pound in gold?
He was as nice a gentleman as any in the blessed shops:
He got away with all I had, and took a luner at the cops.

Me, too, said Dave, that time I went to Sydney town to see the Show
One trimmed me for me bran new suit. You stay where we can watch you, Flo.
Flo packed. If spieler comes at me his finish will be sharp, she said;
And when the boys next heard of...

Edward

Since Nellie Came To Live Along The Creek

My hut is built of stringy-bark, the windows calico,
The furniture a gin-case, one bush-table, and a bunk;
Thick as wheat on my selection does the towering timber grow,
And the stately blue-gums taproots to the bedrock all are sunk;
Then the ferns spring up like nettles,
And the ti-tree comes and settles
On my clearing if I spell-oh for a week;
But I work for love of labour
Since Ive got a handy neighbour,
And Miss Nellies come to live along the creek.

Time was when Death sat by me, and he stalked me through the trees;
Then my arm was weak as water, and my heart a weary thing;
I was sullen as a wombat on such still, wan days as these,
And my wedges all were rusty, and my axe had lost its ring.
Then a fear like sickness bound me,
And I cursed the trees aro...

Edward

Sister Ann

I'm lyin' in a narrow bed,
'N' starin' at a wall.
Where all is white my plastered head
Is whitest of it all.
My life is jist a whitewashed blank,
With flamin' spurts of pain.
I dunno who I've got to thank,
I've p'raps been trod on by a tank,
Or caught out in the rain
When skies were peltin' fish-plates, bricks 'n' lengths of bullock-chain.

I'm lyin' here, a sulky swine,
'N' hatin' of the bloke
Who's in the doss right next to mine
With 'arf his girders broke.
He never done no 'arm t me,
'N' he's pertickler ill;
But I have got him snouted, see,
'N' all old earth beside but she
Come with the chemist's swill,
'N' puts a kind, soft 'and on mine, 'n' all my nark is still.

She ain't a beaut, she's thirty two,
She scales eleven sto...

Edward

Stop-And-See

Im stewing in a brick-built town;
My coat is quite a stylish cut,
And, morn and even, up and down,
I travel in a common rut;
But as the city sounds recede,
In dreamy moods I sometimes see
A vision of a busy lead,
And hear its voices calling me.

My flaccid muscles seem to tweak
To feel the windlass pall and strain,
To shake the cradle by the creek,
And puddle at the tom again.
Id gladly sling this musty shop
To see the sluicing waters flow
A pile of tucker, dirt on top,
And simply Lord knows what below.

Twas lightly left, tis lately mourned,
The tent life up at Stop-and-See,
When shirts with yellow clay adorned
Were badges of nobility,
When Sundays best was Mondays wear,
And Bennett gave us verse and book
Poor D...

Edward

Struck It At Last

He was almost blind, and wasted
With the wear of many years;
He had laboured, and had tasted
Bitter troubles, many cares;
But his laugh was loud and ringing,
And his flag was on the mast
Every day they heard him singing:
Bound to strike it rich at last.

Here he brandished axe and maul ere
Buninyong, and after that
Fought and bled with Peter Lalor
And the boys at Ballarat.
East and west and northward, striving,
As the tides set fresh and fast
Ever trying, rarely thriving
Yes, hed strike it rich at last.

Now and then shed pan out snugly,
Mostly all the other way,
But he never cut up ugly
When he bottomed on the clay;
Never cursed, or got disgusted,
Mourned the days and chances past
Geordie always hoped and trusted

Edward

The Auction

"Who'll bid?Who'll bid?" the question rang
Where throned Death was calling.
I seemed to sense his charnel tang,
Mephitic air appalling;
And every tick I heard the clang
Of his steel hammer falling.

Come great men who upon our earth
Had held a lofty mission,
The spacious ones of lordly birth,
The cunning politician,
And gentlemen of holy worth
Or wondrous erudition.

One buyer in a corner trolls
Beyond the ghastly revel.
He buys by lots or single souls,
His voice is low and level.
And paltry is the price he doles.
The buyer is the Devil!

Edward

The Church Bells

The Viennese authorities have melted down the great bell in St. Stephen's to supply metal for guns or muntions. Every poor village has made a similar gift. - Lokal Anzeiger.


The great bell booms across the town,
Reverberant and slow,
And drifting from their houses down
The calm-eyed people go.
Their feet fall on the portal stones
Their fathers' fathers trod;
And still the bell, with reverent tones,
From cottage nooks and purple thrones
Is calling souls to God.

The chapel bells with ardor spake
Above the poplars tall,
And perfumed Sabbath seemed to wake.
Responsive to their call
From dappled vale and green hillside
And nestling village hives
The peasants came in simple pride
To hear how their Lord Jesus died
To sweeten all their live...

Edward

The Common Men

The great men framed the fierce decrees
Embroiling State with State;
They bit their thumbs across the seas
In diplomatic hate;
They lit the pyre whose glare and heat
Make Hell itself seem cold;
The flames bloomed red above the wheat,
Their wild profusion wreathed the street,
Then in the smoke and fiery sleet
The common men took hold.

Where Babel was with Bedlam freed,
And wide the gates were flung;
To chaos, while the anarch breed
In all the world gave tongue,
The common men in close array,
By mountain, plain and sea,
Went outward girded for the fray,
On one dear quest, whate'er they pay
In blood and pain, the open way
To keep for Liberty.

The common men who never tire,
Unsightly in the mirk
Of caking blood and smoke a...

Edward

The Crusaders

What price yer humble, Dicko Smith, in gaudy putties girt,
With sand-blight in his optics, and much leaner than he started,
Round the 'Oly Land cavorting in three- quarters of a shirt,
And imposin' on the natives ez one Dick the Lion 'Earted?

We are drivin' out the infidel, we're hittin' up the Turk,
Same ez Richard slung his right across the Saracen invader
In old days of which I'm readin'. Now we're gettin' in our work,
'N' what price me nibs, I ask yeh, ez a qualified Crusader!

'Ere I am, a thirsty Templar in the fields of Palestine,
Where that hefty little fighter, Bobby Sable, smit the heathen,
And where Richard Coor de Lion trimmed the Moslem good 'n' fine,
'N' he took the belt from Saladin, the slickest Dago breathin'.

There's no plume upon me helmet, 'n'...

Edward

The Deserted Homestead

Past a dull, grey plain where a world-old grief seems to brood oer the silent land,
When the orbéd moon turns her tense, white face on the ominous waste of sand,
And the wind that steals by the dreamer feels like the touch of a phantom hand,

Through the tall, still trees and the tangled scrub that has sprung on the old bush track,
In a clearing wide, where a willow broods and the cowering bush shrinks backs,
Stands a house alone that no dwellers own, yet unharmed by the storms attack.

Tis a strange, sad place. On the shingle roof mosses gather and corn-blades spring,
And a stillness reigns in the air unstirred by the beat of a wild birds wing.
He who sees believes that the old house grieves with the grief of a sentient thing.

From the charmed gums that about the land in a ...

Edward

The Drovers In Reply

We are wondering why those fellows who are writing cheerful ditties
Of the rosy times out droving, and the dust and death of cities,
Do not leave the dreary office, ask a drover for a billet,
And enjoy the views, the campfires, and the freedom while they fill it.

If its fun to travel cattle or to picnic with merinoes,
Well the drover doesnt see it, few poetic raptures he knows.
As for sleeping on the plains beneath the pale moon always seen there,
That is most appreciated by the man whos never been there.

And the balmy air, the horses, and the wondrous constellations,
The possum-rugs, and billies, and the tough and musty rations,
Its strange they only please the swell in urban streets residing,
Where the trams are always handy if he has a taste for riding....

Edward

The Emu Of Whroo

We've a tale to tell you of a spavined emit,
A bird with a smile like a crack in a hat,
Who was owned by MCue, of the township of Whroo,
The county of Rodney, his front name was Pat.
The bird was a dandy, although a bit bandy,
Her knees, too, were queer and her neck out of gauge,
Shed eat what was handy, from crowbars to candy,
Was tall, too, and tough for a chick of her age.
But her taste and her height, and her figure and smile,
Were the smallest potatoes compared with her guile.

MCues bird had a name, Arabella that same,
A name that was given by Pat, we may say,
To the memory and fame of a red-headed flame,
Because, as he said, she wuz builded that way.
The bird Arabella let nothing compel her,
Her temper was bad when disturbed, as a rule.
Shed...

Edward

The Fact Of The Matter

I'm wonderin' why those fellers who go buildin' chipper ditties,
'Bout the rosy times out drovin', an' the dust an' death of cities,
Don't sling the bloomin' office, strike some drover for a billet,
And soak up all the glory that comes handy while they fill it.

P'r'aps it's fun to travel cattle or to picnic with merinos,
But the drover don't catch on, sir, not much high-class rapture he knows.
As for sleepin' on the plains there in the shadder of the spear-grass,
That's liked best by the Juggins with a spring-bed an' a pier-glass.

An' the camp-fire, an' the freedom, and the blanky constellations,
The 'possum-rug an' billy, an' the togs an' stale ole rations,
It's strange they're only raved about by coves that dress up pretty,
An' sport a wife, an' live on slap-up tucker in...

Edward

The Fossicker

A straight old fossicker was Lanky Mann,
Who clung to that in spite of friends advising:
A grim and grizzled worshipper of pan,
All other arts and industries despising.

Bare-boned and hard, with thin long hair and beard,
With horny hands that gripped like iron pliers;
A clear, quick eye, a heart that nothing feared,
A soul full simple in its few desires.

No hot, impatient amateur was Jo,
Sweating to turn the slides up every minute,
He knew beforehand how his stuff would go,
Could tell by instinct almost what was in it.

Ive known him stand for hours, and rock, and rock,
A-swinging now the shovel, now the ladle,
So sphinx-like that at Time he seemed to mock,
Resolved to run creation through his cradle.

No sun-shafts pricked him throug...

Edward

The Freak

Just beyond All Alone, going back,
Is the humpy of Hatter Magee.
We had travelled all day on the track,
And he offered us mutton and tea.
Mack is rather reserved, but will speak
On one theme, and with eloquence too,
Thats his angular chestnut, The Freak.
Heres a tale that he told through the week,
And I try to believe it is true:

True, he aint no account ez a nag,
An Im not goin to boast of his blood;
If I liked I could pitch you a mag
Bout his sire, once a prince of the stud;
Give performances coloured and plain,
An a pedigree long ez my arm,
Which is style, but Im straight in the main,
So he aint of the Wangdoodle strain,
Nor his dam wasnt Kate nor The Charm.

Fiddle-headed an spavined! Well, praps.
Yes, his legs is a...

Edward

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