Chapter I: Front Matter

Off
The
Blue
Bush

By
J P Bourke

To the West
and the People of the West
TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Golden State of Golden Hearts
So Warm, So True
So Generous in their Welcome of a Wanderer
TO THE MEMORY OF OLD MATES
Women and Men
The Fondest and the Best
Who, even for me, Made Life a Brave Adventure
and
TO MY MOTHER
With all the Love that I shall never speak
This poor token of reverence,
All I could, for all I would
I humbly offer.

John Philip Bourke.

When I am dead
Bring me no roses white,
Nor lilies spotless
And immaculate,
But from the garden roses red,
Roses full blown
And by the noon sun kissed,
Bring me the roses
That my life has missed
When I am dead.

OFF THE BLUEBUSH

VERSES FOR AUSTRALIANS
WEST AND EAST

BY

J. P. BOURKE
(“Bluebush”)

Edited by A. G. STEPHENS
Illustrated by NED WETHERED

SYDNEY
TYRRELL’S LIMITED
22 Castlereagh Street
1915.

_Copyright—First Edition. 2,000 copies, including 30 copies for
Subscribers separately printed and bound and numbered and 25
Superior copies separately bound and numbered, published 1st August,
1915.—Wholly set in type and printed in Australia by Morton’s Ltd.,
75 Ultimo Road, Sydney._

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

J. P. Bourke’s verses were contributed originally to _The Sun_, Kalgoorlie—chiefly during the editorship of Mr. C. W. Andrée Hayward, for whose cultivated appreciation Western rough-writers owe much—and to _The Sunday Times_, Perth.

The preliminary account of Bourke is reprinted, with some revision, from a series of articles contributed to _The Leeuwin_, Perth.

The illustrations by Mr. Ned Wethered represent the promising effort of a Western Australian designer and illustrator, almost wholly self-taught, aged twenty. Their youthful defects are apparent; yet they depict life, character, and scenery in a Western mining town with a gusto that preserves faithfully the spirit of the verses.

On behalf of Bourke, I record his expressed gratitude for the help which, contending with many difficulties, Ned Wethered gave to his friend.

A. G. S.

[Decoration: Black swan]

CONTENTS:

_Preface_ 17

AMONGST THE RICKS OF HAY 117
ANOTHER SONG OF THE STAMPS 110
ANSWER TO “HIS LETTER FROM W.A.” 124
AT BUMMER’S CREEK 99
AT PENNYWEIGHT FLAT 103
AT PARTING 48
A-WHIZZING TOWARDS THE EAST 126

BEER BOOST, A 79
BEER IS ENOUGH 135
BEHIND M‘WHALAN’S BAR 141
BENDER AND SOME OF THE MOODS THAT LEAD UP TO IT, A 155
BETWEEN TWO GATES 174
BLOKE FROM MULLINGAR, A 149
BUNCH OF VIOLETS, A 137
BY A KOPI HILL 97

CHURNING COPY FOR THE PRESS 181
CURSE OF THE LAUNDRIED SHIRT, THE 81

DAN THE HATTER 94
DIAMOND WEDDING, THE 55
DIFFERENCES 145
DREAMS 31
DREAMING THE DREAM OF LIFE 41
DRUNK’S DEFIANCE, A 172
DRUNK’S RUBAIYAT, THE 147

END OF THE EPISODE, THE 45

GARLAND OF SIGHS, A 58
GLIMPSE OF SUMMER, A 43
GOLDEN AGE, THE 46
GOSPEL OF SHIRK, THE 37

HELL FOR LEATHER 74
HIS LETTER FROM W.A. 121