Santa in Australia

Mike

Well-known Member
Location
London
All you Aussies will know this poem, but I put it here
for people from other places.

Mike.

An Aussie Christmas.

Twas the night before Christmas; there wasn't a sound.
Not a possum was stirring; no-one was around.
We'd left on the table some tucker and beer,
Hoping that Santa Claus soon would be here;

We children were snuggled up safe in our beds,
While dreams of pavlova danced 'round in our heads;
And Mum in her nightie, and Dad in his shorts,
Had just settled down to watch TV sports.

When outside the house a mad ruckus arose;
Loud squeaking and banging woke us from our doze.
We ran to the screen door, peeked cautiously out,
Snuck onto the deck, then let out a shout.

Guess what had woken us up from our snooze,
But a rusty old Ute pulled by eight mighty 'roos.
The cheerful man driving was giggling with glee,
And we both knew at once who this plump bloke must be.

Now, I'm telling the truth it's all dinki-di,
Those eight kangaroos fairly soared through the sky.
Santa leaned out the window to pull at the reins,
And encouraged the 'roos, by calling their names.

'Now, Kylie! Now, Kirsty! Now, Shazza and Shane!
On Kipper! On, Skipper! On, Bazza and Wayne!
Park up on that water tank. Grab a quick drink,
I'll scoot down the gum tree. Be back in a wink!'

So up to the tank those eight kangaroos flew,
With the Ute full of toys, and Santa Claus too.
He slid down the gum tree and jumped to the ground,
Then in through the window he sprang with a bound.

He had bright sunburned cheeks and a milky white beard.
A jolly old joker was how he appeared.
He wore red stubby shorts and old thongs on his feet,
And a hat of deep crimson as shade from the heat.

His eyes - bright as opals - Oh! How they twinkled!
And, like a goanna, his skin was quite wrinkled!
His shirt was stretched over a round bulging belly
Which shook when he moved, like a plate full of jelly.

A fat stack of prezzies he flung from his back,
And he looked like a swaggie unfastening his pack.
He spoke not a word, but bent down on one knee,
To position our goodies beneath the yule tree.

Surfboard and footy-ball shapes for us two.
And for Dad, tongs to use on the new barbeque.
A mysterious package he left for our Mum,
Then he turned and he winked and he held up his thumb;

He strolled out on deck and his 'roos came on cue;
Flung his sack in the back and prepared to shoot through.
He bellowed out loud as they swooped past the gates-
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, and goodonya, MATES!'

 

An Australian Christmas poem from over one hundred years ago.

Along by Merry Christmas Time

[SIZE=+1]Henry Lawson, 1913[/SIZE]
    • Along by merry Christmas time they buy the aged goose,
      And boil the dread plum pudding, because of ancient use.
      But to sneer at old time customs would be nothing but a crime,
      For the memory of the Past is all bound up in Christmas time.

      Then Jim comes home from shearing, and he puts a few away,
      With Dad, perhaps, or Uncle, but they're right on Christmas Day:
      For be it on the Never, or 'neath the church bells' chime,
      The family gets together, if they can, at Christmas time.

      And, after tea at Christmas, they clear the things away
      And play the dear old silly games our grand-folk used to play
      And Dad gives a recitation that used to be the joy
      Of all the Western countryside, when Father was a boy.

      Along by merry Christmas time, and ere the week is o'er
      We meet and fix up quarrels that each was sorry for.
      Our hearts are filled with kindness and forgiveness sublime,
      For no one knows where one may be next merry Christmas time.
 
Here is another poem with a Christmas flavour by Lawson.
These poems are part of the Australian psyche and reflect a non traditional idea of what Christmas is all about.

Note- a squatter is someone who simply occupied land without bothering to buy it from the government. Usually they used it to raise sheep. The farmers were legal settlers granted some land on which they were supposed to raise crops. Think of the musical Oklahoma.

The Fire at Ross’s Farmby Henry Lawson

The squatter saw his pastures wide
Decrease, as one by one
The farmers moving to the west
Selected on his run;
Selectors took the water up
And all the black soil round;
The best grass-land the squatter had
Was spoilt by Ross's Ground.

Now many schemes to shift old Ross
Had racked the squatter's brains,
But Sandy had the stubborn blood
Of Scotland in his veins;
He held the land and fenced it in,
He cleared and ploughed the soil,
And year by year a richer crop
Repaid him for his toil.

Between the homes for many years
The devil left his tracks:
The squatter pounded Ross's stock,
And Sandy pounded Black's.
A well upon the lower run
Was filled with earth and logs,
And Black laid baits about the farm
To poison Ross's dogs.

It was, indeed, a deadly feud
Of class and creed and race;
But, yet, there was a Romeo
And a Juliet in the case;
And more than once across the flats,
Beneath the Southern Cross,
Young Robert Black was seen to ride
With pretty Jenny Ross.

One Christmas time, when months of drought
Had parched the western creeks,
The bush-fires started in the north
And travelled south for weeks.
At night along the river-side
The scene was grand and strange --
The hill-fires looked like lighted streets
Of cities in the range.

The cattle-tracks between the trees
Were like long dusky aisles,
And on a sudden breeze the fire
Would sweep along for miles;
Like sounds of distant musketry
It crackled through the brakes,
And o'er the flat of silver grass
It hissed like angry snakes.

It leapt across the flowing streams
And raced o'er pastures broad;
It climbed the trees and lit the boughs
And through the scrubs it roared.
The bees fell stifled in the smoke
Or perished in their hives,
And with the stock the kangaroos
Went flying for their lives.

The sun had set on Christmas Eve,
When, through the scrub-lands wide,
Young Robert Black came riding home
As only natives ride.
He galloped to the homestead door
And gave the first alarm:
`The fire is past the granite spur,
`And close to Ross's farm.'

`Now, father, send the men at once,
They won't be wanted here;
Poor Ross's wheat is all he has
To pull him through the year.'
`Then let it burn,' the squatter said;
`I'd like to see it done --
I'd bless the fire if it would clear
Selectors from the run.

`Go if you will,' the squatter said,
`You shall not take the men --
Go out and join your precious friends,
And don't come here again.'
`I won't come back,' young Robert cried,
And, reckless in his ire,
He sharply turned his horse's head
And galloped towards the fire.

And there, for three long weary hours,
Half-blind with smoke and heat,
Old Ross and Robert fought the flames
That neared the ripened wheat.
The farmer's hand was nerved by fears
Of danger and of loss;
And Robert fought the stubborn foe
For the love of Jenny Ross.
But serpent-like the curves and lines
Slipped past them, and between,
Until they reached the bound'ry where
The old coach-road had been.
`The track is now our only hope,
There we must stand,' cried Ross,
`For nought on earth can stop the fire
If once it gets across.'

Then came a cruel gust of wind,
And, with a fiendish rush,
The flames leapt o'er the narrow path
And lit the fence of brush.
`The crop must burn!' the farmer cried,
`We cannot save it now,'
And down upon the blackened ground
He dashed the ragged bough.

But wildly, in a rush of hope,
His heart began to beat,
For o'er the crackling fire he heard
The sound of horses' feet.
`Here's help at last,' young Robert cried,
And even as he spoke
The squatter with a dozen men
Came racing through the smoke.

Down on the ground the stockmen jumped
And bared each brawny arm,
They tore green branches from the trees
And fought for Ross's farm;
And when before the gallant band
The beaten flames gave way,
Two grimy hands in friendship joined --
And it was Christmas Day.
 

A perennial favourite at this time of year is attending Carols by Candlelight which originated in Melbourne.
Because the weather is hot people gather in large numbers in local parks to sing traditional and contemporary Christmas songs and in the cities these events have become very polished and are televised.

Here is John Williamson singing an older Australian Christmas song Carol of the Birds (Orana to Christmas Day) and another song that pokes fun as the family Christmas gathering December in Australia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85XtT8F4YvY
 
Christmas on the beach

1936971_10153288748462129_1137923467980592970_n.jpg
 
Bush fires at Christmas time are still a hazard in Australia. Yesterday, Christmas Day, they broke out along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

Great Ocean Road bushfire: homes destroyed as five towns evacuated

Houses burn amid Christmas Day emergency for Victorian tourist centres including Lorne, Wye River, Separation Creek, Kennett River and Grey River

More than 300 firefighters spent the night fighting the 2,000-hectare Jamieson Track blaze that had claimed at least 53 homes and threatened to advance on Lorne. Residents of Lorne and nearby Allenvale were told they could go home after an evacuation recommendation was lifted shortly after 9am on Saturday.

Most residents of Lorne, Allenvale, North Lorne and Cumberland River evacuated their homes overnight after the nearby townships of Wye River, Separation Creek, Kennett River and Grey River were evacuated on Friday afternoon.

By 2am on Saturday the fire was about 10km south-west of Lorne, with a south-westerly change starting to push through, Emergency Management Victoria incident controller Peter West said. By 8am it had advanced and was about 6km to 7km away, but a band of rain moving across the region had dropped about 5mm to 15mm on the blaze-affected area.

Craig Lapsley, Victoria’s emergency management commissioner, said on Saturday morning: “Obviously we are very pleased to see the emergency warning lifted for Lorne, and that means VicRoads and VicPol can now go about restoring roads so people can access all the way down the coast to Lorne. However, the roads from Lorne south will be closed for days until VicRoads and others, local government, do their assessments of the roads to ensure they are safe and until they are safe people won’t be able to access that area.

“Those people in Wye River and Separation Creek that have lost properties, we’ll do our best in the next 24 hours to get those people back in to have a look at the damage, the impact and destruction that this fire has caused.”

Lapsley said strong local winds on Friday had blown embers over control lines – something that had only been expected to happen on a much hotter, windier day – but the response was well planned.

http://www.theguardian.com/australi...ean-road-bushfire-destroys-more-than-50-homes

More here http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/v...-road-towns-hit-by-fires-20151225-glv2ud.html
 


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