(header photographs by Harry Waite 1912-2011)

The Myth of the Sacred Brumby

 

 

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Contents

Contacts


Ted Hartley
from "Sing With the Wind"
Published by Envirobook 1989

The Whiteant Anthem

I Remember

 

(Tune: Tannenbaum)

The whiteant flag will lead you on,
It shows the way where men have gone,
And if the track is hard and rough,
You’ll know that they are really tough.
 
Chorus:
So hold that sacred banner high
With it in lead we’ll reach the sky Though Charlies pinch and Normos sneer,
The flag will fly for many a year.
It has been to tops of mountains great,
The highest in most every state,
And where the slow is deep and cold,
You’ll find its spirits ever bold. (Chorus!
 
From canyons deep to deserts seared,
When ere the flag goes it is cheered,
For walkers know as so they must,
It is the one flag they can trust. (Chorus)
 
Ted Hartley
"Kameruka"
December 1964
 
 
 
 
 
I remember, I remember,
The boots that first I wore;
The joy I had in nailing them
That I shall have no more!
On boots and mighty walking mates
My youthful heart was set,
Now they are gone like vanished trips.
The scars, I have them yet.
 
I remember, I remember,
The Southern Ranges high,
I used to think those mighty crags
Were close against the sky.
But now those virgin ridges,
From Finders to P.B. 1
Are traversed on an off week-end,
In sandshoes, by "T B.2
 
I remember, I remember,
Young Higgins, Parris, Moore,
The keenest whole-hog walkers
The Wild Dogs ever saw!
The sun could never rise too soon,
Nor bring too tough a day,
But now wild teams of Camels3
Couldn't drag those sloths away.
 
I remember, I remember,
Ere my bum days flitted by,
It was fine then in December
And the quartzite crags were dry.
But now its wet and freezing
On summer trips, becos
The weather, like bushwalking, ain't
Like what it used to was.
 
Ted Hartley
"Kameurka"  February 1968
1Precipitous Bluff
2Tim Walkden-Brown
3 Barry Dunnet was "The Camel"