19 January 1933

MEMORIES OF GORDON

Centenary Of Australia's First Poet

Next October will witness the 100th anniversary of the birth of Adam Lindsay Gordon, Australia's first poet, who was born in the Azores on October 19, 1833, and came to Australia as a penniless young man. Gordon was a human contradiction— a dare-devil and a moody maker of verse. But his memory is held in high veneration.

The lower south-east, and especially Mount Gambier, possesses many treasured haunts of the great Australian verse-maker. Half-way up the winding road along the narrow ridge dividing the Blue and Leg of Mutton Lakes stands the Gordon Monument, site of the famous leap where one false step would have carried horse and rider to certain death over 250 feet of sheer precipice into the waters below. His famous leap over the fence dividing the roadway from the precipice was no legend grown around his memory but an actual occurrence vouched for on the testimony of two companions, Billy Traynor and W. Bell, who were with him at the time. They were returning from a kangaroo hunt when Gordon, without saying a word, got down, and tightened his horse's girth, jumped over the fence and jumped back onto the road. They said to him, 'What the devil did you do that for?' He replied, 'Well, you know when a man wears a green coat'— referring to the hunt club uniform he had brought out with him from the old country — 'he should do something out of the common.'

Gordon's acquaintance with Billy Traynor originated when Traynor was a performer in a travelling circus. He had to fill the role of an intoxicated rider, and Gordon, who was in attendance on police duty, arrested him for his safety's sake, and was taken aback when outside the tent he found his drunkenness was assumed. This episode was the beginning of a life long friendship. When Traynor left Benson's Circus he took on steeple-chasing, and lived in Mount Gambier, finally going to Melbourne, where he died. Before his death he returned to Mount Gambier to point out the place where Gordon jumped over the fence on to the ledge of the precipice, nearly two telephone poles' distance south of the monument erected to Gordon.

The other witness, W. Bell, lived at Heywood, where he held land and kept a number of racehorses. Gordon has been credited with having ridden with out hesitation or fear the worst outlaws and buckjumpers ever brought to him. Mr. H. L. F. Holzgrefe, who arrived in Mount Gambier with his parents in 1857, and resided there for 20 years before removing to Millicent, recollects Gordon addressing a meeting at the old Tanners' Inn when a candidate for Parliament. Some of his audience being inclined to scoff, he took his leave of them with, 'Well, if you won't listen to me I'm not going to waste my lung power.' Whatever he may have been as a politician, as a sport he was 'always clean and a thorough gentleman' who rode some daring steeplechases in Mount Gambier, and some of the most vicious buckjumpers that ever existed.

One who as a boy was constantly in the company of the poet was Mr. E. J. Locke, now a resident of Mount Gambier. Mr. Locke's father kept the Port MacDonnell Hotel in 1861. When Gordon lived at Dingley Dell in 1863 Locke visited the house about three times a week, and he now claims to be the only person living who has ridden alongside of Gordon on horseback. Gordon was a very reserved man, but by no means morose, and, although afraid of nothing in the form of horse flesh, and frequently bringing off feats to which he had been dared by bystanders, would never wager a penny, although sometimes he would back his ability with a bet of a bottle of whisky. He was a true sportsman. He never looked for trouble, and 'was reserved because he was a composer of verse; he did not like prattle and small talk. He retired from Parliament on account of its loquacity. Mr. Locke remembers him as chivalrous towards woman kind and a protector of the weak, and yet, greatly daring from the purely boyish impulse to overcome any obstacle of sufficient difficulty, to make appeal at the moment.

On one occasion a chance remark by Bob Learmonth, son of Major Learmonth, of Ettrick Station, near Heywood, that a certain iron gate which they were passing would be a good jump, elicited prompt assent from Gordon, who landed on the other side without hesitation. The gate was over five feet high, and Gordon's mount was the grey mare Modesty, purchased from George Watson, starter at Flemington. He won the Mount Gambier steeple-chase on this horse in 1865. That race was the biggest event in the district in those days. The start was in Claraville, and the course led past the court-house, through Hedley Park, around the Farmers' Inn (now Hotel Federal), north of the Commercial mills, through Doughy Paddock to Vansittart Park, past Dr. Wehl's mill (the old distillery), finishing in Hedley Park. The distance was between three and four miles.

Dingley Dell was not long built before Gordon went to live there. The house was built by a man named Randell in the middle of a scrub. Mrs. Sarah Taylor, daughter of Captain Morgan, of Port MacDonnell, and born in 1861, recalled the poet as a very tall, slim man, who never worked to her knowledge, and lived at intervals for a few years at Dingley Dell. She knew both him and his wife as excellent horse riders. The girls of the town were always amused at seeing them walking together, as Mrs. Gordon, who was very small, would catch hold of her husband's coat pocket, went trotting alongside to keep up with him. Recently a fine statue of Gordon was unveiled at the Houses of Parliament in Melbourne. On June 24, 1870, he met his untimely death at the age of only 47 years. His grave is at Brighton Cemetery, Victoria. — 'Emmco,' Prospect.

See also 28 Apr 1932
See also 4 May 1933
See also 24 Aug 1933
See also 2 Nov 1933
See also 12 Jul 1934
See also 18 Oct 1934
See also 8 Nov 1934
See also No 2 Robe
See also No 4 Mount Gambier

Dog's Gruesome Find

— Years before the coming of the motor car, when the bullock-dray was the only manner of transport on the West Coast, there occurred a tragedy in the Cowell district on which scarcely any light has been shed.

A youth went to Cowell for stores. While there it rained heavily. On his way home he had to cross Narridy Creek. People who had seen the Narridy in flood warned him not to attempt the crossing. He took no notice.

He was never seen again, and is believed to have been swept away by the torrent. Some idea of the height of that flood may be gathered from the fact that straw was seen in the tops of the trees on the banks of the creek.

Some time later, a man coming from Cowell with a waggon team passed the vicinity of the tragedy. Noticing his dog carrying something of unusual shape, he investigated. He found that the object was a human bone in a boot. The conclusion was that it belonged to the missing lad. — 'Julius Caesar,' Yeelanna.

Chased By A Madman.

— About 1879 my husband and baby girl and I lived on a farm near Bruce.

One day my husband was away. I was in the kitchen washing the breakfast dishes and rocking the cradle. Hearing a noise behind, I looked round. I received a shock. Behind me was a man with an axe upraised.

I stood speechless. The man was out of his mind. He started to rave that some fellows were after him. He then went out to see if they were coming. As he disappeared behind some bushes I grabbed my baby from the cradle and ran towards a paddock, a quarter of a mile away, where I knew my husband and other men were working. To reach them I had to clamber through a sixwire sheep-proof fence, and get my baby through as well.

I got through, and, looking around, saw that the man was after me, still holding the axe. You cannot imagine the horror I felt as I ran for my life.

Then my husband and his mates saw me, and the man in pursuit. They came to my help and tried to get the man to drop the axe. Only when threatened did he do so. Curiously with that action he seemed to get better.

Someone telegraphed to Quorn for the police, and others started with the prisoner in a spring cart to meet the officers. The police took charge of the lunatic, who was suffering from delirium tremens.

A few months later I was walking in the scrub when I noticed something on the ground, which I thought was a little book. I found it to be a roll of notes, ten pounds in all, which I supposed the demented man must have lost. But we never heard any more of him, and so claimed the notes as compensation. — 'Topsy,' Kimba.

[10 pounds in 1870 would be worth over A$2000 today].

Money Matters.

— A certain old pioneer, who has now been dead a number of years, had curious ideas regarding banks and finance. He could not see the advantage to be gained by banking his spare money for quite a time.

Finally a bank manager persuaded him to put his money into his bank, and the old man, was given a cheque book and the necessary instructions for its use. One day he purchased some goods from my grandfather and paid for them with a cheque.

Later the cheque was returned to grandfather marked 'account over-drawn.' Grand father went to see the man concerning the affair. The old pioneer waxed very indignant. He said to grandfather, 'John, they're a lot of rogues, that's what they are. Over-drawn, indeed! Why, I have a whole lot of pages left yet in my cheque book, and I'll show it to you to prove it!'— 'R.V.H.,' Yeelanna.

He Slipped Notwithstanding.

— Ned Crowe, who was the owner of several stations in the South-East, some of which he saw from selection to resumption, was a noted purveyor of assorted 'langwidge,' but in select company he endeavored to restrain the flow.

His stations, like others in the 60's and 70's, were overrun by kangaroos, and many were the big hunts conducted on the properties. On one of these occasions the party included a bishop.

'Ned,' knowing his weakness, endeavored to keep out of hearing of the worthy prelate. But they converged from the opposite sides of a timbered 'island,' and were face to face before 'Ned' recognised his lordship.

'You have a large number of kangaroos here, Mr. Crowe,' remarked the prelate.

'Yes,' said Ned, 'many —— thousand of them,'

'There,' he added in consternation, 'I've gone and made a —— mess of it, after all.'— 'Tanta Tyga,' Millicent.

Bird Love.

— A friend of mine purchased an iron tank recently. He had the tank forwarded to him by rail from a distance of 170 miles.

When the train arrived at the siding he observed two swallows circling overhead in an excited manner. He drew the guard's attention to them, and was told that they had been following the train all day.

'In fact,' said the guard, 'I think they have a nest in that tank of yours.' Sure enough, in one corner, my friend found their little mud home with three eggs in it. They appeared none the worse for the long journey. The tank was carefully carted out to the farm with the two swallows acting as an aerial escort.

Although the tank was badly needed, my friend said he would wait until the birds had finished with it. 'They deserve to have it after their faithfulness and love in following it as they did,' he said.

In due course three baby birds were hatched, and the joy of their parents was complete, — 'R.V.H.,' Yeelanna.

Real Life Stories Of South Australia (1933, January 19). Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), p. 15. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90896151