ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Dennis on the Ten Dollar Note

© Stephen Whiteside 24.03.2011

There's been Paterson and Lawson, and Mary Gilmore, too,
But never CJ Dennis, which is why I'm feeling blue.
Adam Lindsay Gordon hasn't made it, that is true,
Nor Harpur, Kendall, Neilson - names which might be new to you (but not to ABPA members, of course!).
Oodgeroo Noonuccal was Australian through and through,
And you cannot doubt her talent, but she isn't in the brew,
But Dennis ought to be there, when you think of all he wrote.
I'm talking 'bout the ten dollar note.

If they placed his mug upon it, it would give me quite a thrill,
Just to see him on the ten dollar bill.
That he hasn't ever made it is a fact that really sucks.
He should be on the one that says 'ten bucks'.
He should be gazing proudly where those poets (mostly men) are -
The obverse or the reverse of a tenner,
But if they cannot manage it, they'd surely go to heaven
If they put him on a note that said 'eleven'!

You bloody wag! The things you dream up....but then that's the poets' purpose I guess.
Good one Stephen.

Btw. I pm'd you seeking guitar chords for Aussie songs. (preferably traditionals) as you seem to be 'in' with some fairly hifalutin' musos. Sheet music for these seems as rare as cuckoo clock droppings. I wanted some for croc. I'm pretty sure the pm got gobbled by the gremlins....whatchareckon?

Cheeers
Glenny

I've got Ukulele cords for 'I still call Australia Home' but I guess that's not rrreaealy an aussie song. I've got 'Waltzing Matilda' (two versions), too.' Oh woooppps - I forgot 'Advance Australia Fair'. But when I get a bit better at playing, I hope to find more Aussie music to play. Not guitar cords but the cord names are the same only the instrument is different. (a C is still a C on whatever you are playing).

G'day Stephen,

sorry to butt in above. Are you thinking of getting a petition together to assault the government with a request for the next face to go on a note? They must be due to make some new ones. How long has it been since they changes the $10? I think 'they' would probably put Dame Joan on before another poem don't you?

I'm looking forward to the National. Trying to have some new material ready. See you there.

I agree Stephen, C J Dennis is certainly a significant Australian cultural icon. After all they put Germaine Greer on the postage stamps ( I'll reserve my opinion on that )

I have a bottle of vintage port (1977) called “A Sentimental Bloke” with page 2 of “Doreen” on the back.
I believe pages 1 and 2 are now worth in excess of $60 each.

TTFN

How, then, can we honour best the one that's known as 'Glenny'?
We're all now using decimal - can't stick her on a penny.
We could whack her on a fiver, 'cause she's sort of like a queen,
But the one already sittin' there'd prob'ly cause a scene.
Put her on a five cent coin? She'd come up nice and shiny.
She has so many features, but you couldn't say she's spiny.
Replace the lyre-bird on the ten? No, not a happy choice.
She's not an imitator, she's a strong, assured voice.
She's no retiring platypus, so leave alone the twenty.
The fifty's got the coat of arms - I reckon that is plenty.
The tenner would be perfect, but she'd have to form a queue
With Judith Wright, Dot Porter, Oodgeroo, to name a few.
She might push Mary Reibey off the twenty in good time -
Reward (or compensation?) for an honest life of crime!
The fifty or the hundred? I suppose she's got a show,
But she's prob'ly gonna have to wait a hundred years or so.
So I guess we won't see Glenny 'on the money' very soon,
But it's not a major hassle, and it might just be a boon,
For we like her eyes a'shinin', not a stare that's fixed and wooden,
And we don't need rubber stampin', 'cause we know that she's a good 'un!

Stephen could we put her on a vintage Port, Croc recons she a good drop.

TTFN

You probably all do know but just in case you didn't that A. B. "Banjo" Paterson and "The Man From Snowy River" poem are commemorated on the Australian 10 dollar note . The full text of the poem is printed several times in microprint as one of the note's security devices. You need a magnifying glass to read it but it is there.

Now if they were to do the same with C. J. - that would be pretty special - as for Glenny (love your verse Stephen) perhaps we could coerce the Govt into printing an $11 note to commemorate achievements to Bush Poetry in 2011
Glenny on one side and CJ on the other and all the other unacknowledged but worthy poets intermingled into a poetry border collage around the outer edges.

and, .. and,

we could make them a collectors edition and sell them for $15 at festivals and 'coin & stamp fairs' and keep the profit for the ABPA.