Winner of The Cloncurry Poetry Prize – one of Australia’s richest – is Penny Lane from NSW with Remembering Mary, a beautifully painted picture of an outback hero worthy of much praise.
Ms Lane wins the $10,000 prize.
Odes to strong, pioneering women have featured in results of one of the country’s richest word fests.
Cloncurry Shire Council mayor Greg Campbell announced the results on the banks of Chinaman Creek Dam at Cloncurry, with poet enthusiasts and locals gathering to celebrate.
This year’s theme was Outback Heroes.
Of the top five poems, three honour and acknowledge the role women of the land have played in the dramas of outback life.
Joining Ms Lane in the top five were:
Runner-Up: Tom McIlveen with his poem Heroes of Yesterday
Third: David Campbell with his poem Unsung Heroes
Highly Commended: Bronwyn Blake with her poem The Women of the Outback
Commended: Barry Desailly with his poem Outback Legend of the Sky
Cloncurry mayor Greg Campbell said Australia’s cultural signature – and particularly that in the outback – was inked by the muses of poets.
“Some don’t recognise the names Dorothea Mackellar, Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, Oodgeroo Noonuccal and even famed modern poet Rupert McCall and their spine-tingling odes to Australia’s ‘sweeping plains, rugged mountain ranges, droughts and flooding rains’.
“It’s fitting therefore, that one of the nation’s richest poetry competitions is staged in one of the nation’s most beautiful outback towns – Cloncurry.”
He paid tribute to the role of women in forging life in the outback.
“For those who know the outback and its challenges, these heroic co-workers reflect the history of many of the families of the region through the grandmothers, mothers, aunts and members who have often – from behind the scenes – woven the family and community threads together.”
Winning poet Penny Lane said she was stirred to respond to the theme ‘Outback Heroes’ when she read of the competition in her local newspaper, the Port Stephens Examiner.
“I am particularly interested in exploring the experiences of women in Australia’s history and recording them in poetry.
“The first image of an outback hero that came to my mind was of my husband’s great-great grandmother Mary Bassett Lane, who migrated to Queensland in 1866, “ she said.
“Three of my great loves are family, poetry and being in the outback and I was able to combine the three in creating my poem Remembering Mary.
“Thank you to Cloncurry and to those involved in running and sponsoring the competition. We poets applaud you.
“I have a connection to Cloncurry. I married into the Lane family, as did a young woman from nearby Marrabah in 1939.
“That woman’s daughter is my cousin-in-law and the Lane family historian Dale, who introduced me to Mary Bassett Lane.
“Remembering Mary is dedicated to Dale.”
The Top 10 poems from this year’s competition can be found on the Cloncurry Shire Council website.
