There's Nothing Quite Like Ozzie Yarn Spinning!

    Old Mate!  In the gusty old weather,

    When our hopes and our troubles were new,

    In the years spent in wearing out leather,

    I found you unselfish and true —

    I have gathered these verses together

    For the sake of our friendship and you. 

When Grace Williamson recited the opening lines of Henry Lawson's "To An Old Mate" (which incidentally happened to be man's best friend), an appreciative audience already knew this was an afternoon they would not want to miss for anything. 

What was unusual was the setting: jovial bush poets belching out lines of old-fashioned bush poems; middle aged men and women in comfortable camp chairs, many wearing Akubra hats; black swans waddling in wetlands nearby. 

The WA Bush Poets & Yarnspinners Association (http://wabushpoets.com/) recently presented "Poetry in the Park". Some 100 residents in a leafy Perth suburb enjoyed a unique style of poetry made famous by Banjo Paterson (The Man From Snowy River and The Waltzing Matilda), Henry Lawson and others of a past era. Some local rhyming poets even managed to come up with unusual stories such as one about a Dutch migrant in the 50's when the agonies of war were still fresh in the mind, when land was plentiful, and when you built your own house.

Over 3 hours on that balmy spring afternoon, close to 50 poems were sung.

The Poetry Park, opened earlier this year, is set in McDougall Park in Como, 8km south of Perth. Lemon-scented gum trees and jacaranda in full bloom surround the park, but what nobody will fail to notice are black swans and a variety of birds which are just emerging from the breeding season.