ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

‘Black Stump’ stream of consciousness…

Way out past the petrol pump
Is where you’ll find the far Black Stump
Though, as a rule, we’re far more fond
Of speaking of what lies beyond
The black stump than the stump itself.
(The next line has to end with shelf.)
Depending on your point of view,
There’s something old or something new
Out there beyond that charcoal stump.
It must just be a filthy dump,
Or wildflowers in a gleaming clump,
Or maybe a great ugly lump
Of gold, and you will get the jump
On each and every other chump
Prospecting past the old black stump.
The reason why it’s black, I guess,
Is ‘cos it’s burnt. We’ve made a mess
Of this here country – clearing land,
Transforming landscapes, once so grand,
To arid deserts, sterile, dry,
And, yes, I know the reason why.
It seemed to so foreign to our eyes.
We held on hard to Britain’s ties.
We tried to shape it to our taste,
But laid, instead, great tracts to waste.
Perhaps there still is time to learn
We do not have to slash and burn
The bush; we will amend this flaw,
And therefore change the metaphor,
And distant things will thus be seen…
Way out past the forest green!

© Stephen Whiteside 05.07.2018

Ah yes Stephen, the ol' white fella gets the blame once again! I have read often and indeed seen with my own eyes the way the 'first Australians' changed the landscape, well before the 'other' Australians got here....but for the sake of poetic license as opposed to political correctness we will let that pass....
I actually hate the saying "first Australians" as a reference to the Australian Aborigine, there was no such place as Australia until the white fellas got here and named it Australia!...

Fair enough, Ross. So what's your take on why the stump is black (and why there's only one)?

The black stump seems to one of those things where the origin is lost in folklore.

I can only ponder that the European/Australians regarded the "outback" as a desolate and barren place, unlike the green and fertile fields of the old country. the remnant of a burnt tree would be a symbol of desolation and anything beyond that would be perhaps the worse dryness and hardship. And the vast outback has always been dry and harsh regardless of human activity.

The black stump, I conclude, is merely a " poetic" figure of the challenging beyondness, nothing to do with scapegoating, skin colour or social analysis.

Yes, this makes good sense to me, Neville.

You really are such a deep thinker Neville, loosen up mate and get with the program....

What about this Doc...


The stump is black and just for fun, we will assume there's more than one,
Now why they're black we can't be sure, but are they black from bark to core?
we can assume that it was fire and that is why they grew no higher,
so of course they're just a lump that we we refer to as a stump!

Now those that were quite close to town would surely soon be whittled down,
so black stumps that we know today, of course are all quite far away,
and people who live in the town if asked to go that far would frown,
they're keen to sit upon their rumps and not go out beyond black stumps.

I'm as chilled out as the cucumber Ross.

Sounds fair enough to me, Ross!