Fix this text
BIBLIONEWS
Fix this textBook Collectors’ Society of Australia
Fix this textMay, 1963
Fix this text207th Issue
Fix this textVol. 16, No. 5
Fix this textTHE FIRST PUBLISHED POEM BY BARCROFT BOAKE
Fix this textIntroductory Note by Keast Burke
Fix this textnewspaper research by Watty Fielder
Fix this textShortly after the Rolf Boldrewood Bibliography (No. 5 of the Studies) had gone to
Fix this textpress, there came under notice Boake's "metrical address to Rolf Boldrewood" to which
Fix this textreference had been made by A.G. Stephens in the Memoir which he had penned for the 1697
Fix this textAngus & Robertson collected edition a volume which incidentally was copyrighted by
Fix this textThe Bulletin, though never published by that firm.
Fix this textThe reference appears on page 199 of the memoir; it is here stated that the
Fix this textaddress in question appeared in the Al bury Banner, the same being "Boake’s first
Fix this textprinted composition" . Appeal was made to fellow-member and friend, Watty Fielder, and
Fix this texthis only known complete file of that paper and in due course the mail brought a copy
Fix this textof the stanzas in question and these are now reprinted below, from The Albury Banner
Fix this textand Wodonga Express of October 9th 1891.'*
Fix this textTO ROLF BOLDREWOOD
Fix this textI cannot climb fame’s tower and ring
Fix this textAn ever-sounding chime,
Fix this textI only have the art to string
Fix this textPoor phrases into rhyme,
Fix this textNor can I strike that subtle chord
Fix this textOf melody flung heavenward,
Fix this textLike those whose names are deeply scored
Fix this textUpon the walls of time.
Fix this textHowever faint, I yet can catch
Fix this textA gentle undertone;
Fix this textHowever humble, yet a snatch
Fix this textOf song to call my own—
Fix this textAn echo from that alpine height
Fix this textToo steep for me, yet still in sight,
Fix this textWhere emulating swallow flight,
Fix this textThe songs of these have flown.
Fix this textTake then these verses from afar,
Fix this textFrom where the Snowy bent
Fix this textIn crystal arching o’er the bar
Fix this textThunders in fierce descent,
Fix this textTo where, far-spreading on the plain,
Fix this textThe floods that never see the main,
Fix this textThe waters of the Cooper, drain
Fix this textFull half a continent;
Fix this textFOOTNOTE: A.G.S. also tells us that "Boake wrote some
Fix this textMemoriam, Arthur Biscay'" and that these were also printed in N gjTher appear
Fix this textthis tribute would be the poet’s second composition to be print .
Fix this textto have been collected.
Fix this textIt's easy and takes two shakes of a lamb's tail!
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Book Collectors' Society of Australia. (1947). Biblionews Retrieved June 12, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3005135013
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{{Citation
| author1=Book Collectors' Society of Australia.
| title=Biblionews
| year=1947
| section=v. ; 29 cm.
| issn=1529-1715
| issue=Vol. 16 No. 5 (May 1963)
| location=[Sydney]
| publisher=The Book Collectors' Society of Australia
| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3005135013
| id=nla.obj-3005135013
| access-date=12 June 2025
| via=Trove
}}
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