From flaming damper to magnificent moustaches, the Bangalow Show’s Bush Poetry Competition has never taken itself too seriously. Ahead of this year’s event on Saturday 14 November, Sally Schofield asks host Angus Thurgate what makes a good bush poem, why the tradition endures and what it takes to win over an audience in just three minutes.
Bush poetry has a long tradition of storytelling, humour and capturing Australian life. What makes it relevant today, and how do you think the form is evolving to reflect contemporary Australia?
It’s possibly more relevant today than ever as an antidote to the modern obsession with perfection. Bush poetry celebrates the imperfect, the flaws, and delights in puncturing hubris. If nothing else, it’s a marvellous opportunity to look straight ahead and not at a screen.5
The bush poetry competition has become an iconic part of the Show. What do you think makes it so popular, and why is it important that regional communities continue to celebrate this kind of storytelling?
Initially, I think folks were attracted by the dangerous spectacle of the cooking of the damper, a flaming tradition at the Bush Poets event … word got out, and for a few years it provided a free-wheeling, distracting conflagration involving rum and a pyromaniac while featured poets struggled to engage the audience’s attention.
Then The Bangalow Herald offered a prize, as they still do today, and the event was open to anyone brave enough to cobble a rhyming story together, then present it to the world in less than three minutes. They brought friends. A sash was added to the prize, and we never looked back.
As the host of the Bush Poetry Competition, what do you say makes a bush poem stand out? Are you impressed by clever rhymes, a cracking yarn, a distinctive voice or something else?
By way of example, we were fortunate to have local bush-poet royalty Ray Essery as a featured artist a few years back. Spellbinding to watch someone so accomplished deliver the rhymes and story, then add another dimension with thought-provoking recollections and compassionate insights. Lulled by the rhyme while the import of the words hit home.
What makes a bush poem stand out? It is alive at that moment of the telling. It is not just that poem and that poet, it is also the audience. It is community in its simplest form, so delivery is kind of crucial.
You have an extraordinarily dulcet speaking voice, the sort that seems made for radio. Have you ever worked as a broadcaster or professional storyteller, or is that magnificent voice simply a gift of nature?
Firstly, stap me vitals! I stagger under the deluge of superlatives.
Secondly, yes, I have been involved with voice-based productions. One such was a sports segment on Bay FM (possibly the only sports segment on Bay FM), where I interviewed our photographer Vanessa about her team’s win in the fifth-grade grand final in Summer 6s. A compelling and thrilling recitation (her team won) that garnered millions of likes. It would also make a good bush poem.
Bush poetry often finds humour and humanity in ordinary experiences. If you were writing a poem about Bangalow today, what characters, places or peculiarities do you think would deserve a verse or two?
Aha! There you have it! The crux, so to speak. It could literally be anything.
A dog behaving peculiarly around drones or a COVID-related split in the community.
I personally think something should be said about the prevalence of moustaches.
Whatever the topic, in this 125th year of the Bangalow Show, all any entry needs to include are the words ‘one’, ‘two’ and ‘five’ somewhere in the mix.
Three minutes or less. What could be easier?
The Bush Poets competition will again be awarding the Chad Morgan Memorial Encouragement Award of $50 for the best up and coming bush poet, to be chosen by founder of the award, Brett Stephens.
The Bangalow Herald is the proud sponsor of The Bush Poetry event at the Bangalow Show
