 (Colin John Newsome) was one of the "Old Brigade" of Bush Poets still writing and reciting
when Bush Poetry regained popularity in the 1980s.
After the days of the Sydney Bulletin's Red Page and its later Aborigionalities Section
were scrapped around 1940, Australian rhyming verse was in the doldrums. It was
poets like Col, his contemporary and mate Keith Garvy, Bruce Simpson, Colleen
McLaughlin and Charlee Marshall who kept plugging away when very few people
had any interest in Australian bush verse.
Col Newsome was born on 12th October, 1916 at a midwifery behind the Glen Innes
Court House. Born into a family of graziers, Col believed he was intended to be a
black sheep from an early age. His was a breech birth and he often joked that he
came into the world swimming against the current of life. His younger years were
spent at the Wellingrove area north west of Glen Innes in northern New South Wales.
Col's life was shaped by his bush upbringing. Like most country kids, he was a keen
sportsman excelling in the boxing and wrestling rings. Col later travelled for two
years with the famous Jimmy Sharman's Boxing Show.
Rough-riding was another field of endeavour for this tough man of the land. In 1947
he won the Australian Bullock Riding Championship at Glen Innes held under the
rules of the Australian Bushman's Carnival Association.
He worked at most bush pursuits being a stockman, drover, fencer and timber cutter
before concentrating on the shearing industry. He worked as a wool-presser at first, a
very physical job in the days of manually operated presses. When the electrically
operated hydraulic wool-press appeared the job became a bit too easy for a man with
Col's aptitude for hard yakka and he concentrated on shearing.
Col pushed the "bogi lizard" in sheds all over Queensland and New South Wales
filling in the off season with bush work and sometimes fruit picking in Queensland's
Granite Belt.
In the midst of all this he served Australia in World War II but this was a part of his
life Col never talked about.
He wrote poetry from an early age and also became an avid collector of oral histories
told by the many old timers he crossed paths with in his outback ramblings His best
known book "The Green Tree Snake" was published in 1981 followed by "Dingo
Howlers" in 1985. He produced many smaller publications including "Trooper Bohan
at the Shooting of Ben Hall", "Spirit of Thunderbolt, Ben Hall and other
Bushrangers", "Outlawed Bushranger, Black Tommy", "Bushmans Holiday", "The
Guyra Ghost", "Write to Mother for Mothers Day", "History of Hobbs Family""Wests of Wellingrove" and "The Wild Scotsman".
Col's last major work was "Paddy Kenniff. Queensland's Ned Kelly" published in
1996. This was a history of Paddy, the elder Kenniff brother who was hanged for his
involvement in the murder of a station manager and a policeman in the Carnarvon
Ranges on 30th March, 1902.
Col was a familiar figure around Bush Poetry events up until just before his death on
21 st September, 2008 aged 92 years. He was always happy to talk about the old days,
outback history, poetry and folk music, his recollections of shearing, "pen mates" with
his friend and fellow poet, Keith Garvy, how his support of the shearers led to a
falling out with his grazier family, the Kenniff gang (Queensland's last bushrangers)
and a thousand other subjects made enthralling listening.
Col Newsome will be remembered amongst poetry fans for works like "The Green
Tree Snake", "The Gympie Giant", "The Rat Faced Man", "A Horse called Hoon" and "Friends at Ballandean".
He will be remembered by all who knew him as a right thinking, straight talking man
who looked you in the eye and had a handshake that could cut off your blood supply,
right up to the end.
Col was farewelled at the Glen Innes Catholic Church on 26th September, 2008. A
gathering at the R.S.L. Club after the service, saw many of his mates in the Australian
Bush Poets Association pay poetic tribute to a fine poet and a great bloke.
(Information supplied by Jack Drake)
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