"Gawler" by La Journie, 1930

 

"Gawler" by La Journie, 1930

SLSA: B 11491 Gawler Railway Station opened in 1857 and the original platform building was replaced in 1879

Every so often whilst carrying out my research I come across delightful titbits about towns or people, generally in the “Letters to the Editor: section of old newspapers. The following poem I found amusing, as I had been researching the building of the Gawler Town Clock, and the animosity from townsfolk regarding its inability to keep time.
 Also, as a born and bred Gawlerite, I can remember older folk than me calling Gawler Antiquated”, so the following poem, with its stinging satire and cynicism amused even more so!

Enjoy!

GAWLER.

A Doggerel.

Sleepy country town

Eyeing, with a frown,

Anything approaching real progression.

Up and down the place,

Filling all the space,

Are oddities that show its retrogression.

Every passing hour,

From the town clock tow'r,

The chimes ring out their merry melody :

Yet often in the night

From the tower's height,

Come fifteen chimes instead of only three.

Unhappily for you

Should your watches be untrue.

Any evening at all in this quaint town.

You'll find the clock alright,

But they haven't got a light,

And the dial is as dark as Pluto's crown .

To the station if you'd travel,

There's a mystery to unravel :

How to get there is the thing you want to know.

Prop a post up with your shoulder

Till you see a waggon older

Than the buckboards of a century ago.

Start to shout, and do a dance,

Anything that will enhance

A wild Red Indian attitude, or fierce Berseker air-.

Then the wagon gives a bound.

Sways, and turns two-thirds around —

And the tramcar has another fourpenny fare.

Finally the most amusing.

Is the crowd that stand enthusing

In the middle of the street on Friday night. .

So antiquated Gawler,

Lest you grow any smaller,

Just eradicate self-satisfaction's blight.

                                                        'La Journie.'

1930 'GAWLER.', Bunyip (Gawler, SA : 1863 - 1954), 31 January, p. 10. , viewed 04 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96670042