BILL GORDON
Bush Poet
Bill Gordon is a retired farmer from Boyup Brook WA. He is the coordinator of Bush Poetry for the Boyup Brook Country Music Club and is the president of WA Bush Poets & Yarnspinners Assn. Inc. In that role he is responsible for organising bush poetry at a number of festivals and events throughout WA including Nambung Country Music Muster and Toodyay Bush Poetry festival.
During the winter months Bill can be found somewhere in the northern parts of WA where he regularly entertains in caravan parks and campsites to other like-minded travellers. Many of his experiences in fifty years of farming as well as characters he has met along the way feature in his poems and yarns.
Bill developed a love of Bush Poetry as a small boy reading the works of Banjo Paterson and other poets of that era. He is now known across Australia performing his own works as well as a wide range of modern and traditional poetry. He has a considerable repertoire of traditional and modern poems. He makes people laugh, makes them cry, and makes them think. Whether at a retirement village, music festival or a primary school, Bill has the right poem for any occasion.
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Where can you find Bill
Due to the restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic the Boyup Brook Country Music Festival has been postponed until next February.
Toodyay Moondyne Joe Festival is a day out for the whole family on Sunday 2nd May.
WA Bush Poets feature on their own stall plus on the main stage and other stages while Toodyay turns back the pages to the days of it's famous and elusive bushranger. Warwick Trant will be singing Country Music between poetry brackets.
Bill and Meg are intending to head north in May and be in Derby for the Derby Bush Poets Brunch at the Sportsman's Club, Derby on Sunday 18th July. From there they plan to head to Kununnurra and maybe Katherine if allowed. You could find Bill performing in a caravan park anywhere along the track.
Nambung Country Music Muster is on October 21 -24 at Nambung Station, Cervantes (2 hours north of Perth). Excellent Country Music run by Terry Bennetts and his Band of Mates and featuring many of the best Country Music artists in WA. You will also hear the best Bush Poets in WA performing at Nambung with a three hour show on Sunday morning.
Toodyay Bush Poetry Festival follows on November 5 - 7 and incorporates the WA Bush Poetry State Championships.
Toodyay has been the home of Bush Poetry in WA since 2013 and with it's history is an ideal location to present Australia's iconic literary art form.
Here is a selection of Bill's poems
Bungee Jumping
I’m going bungee jumping, cross it off my bucket list,
All the kids assure me it’s sure not to be missed,
Of all the fun they’ve ever had they say this is the best,
They’ve done some wild and crazy things but this beats all the rest.
I’ve jumped most everything there is, bikes and horses too,
And even in a motor car I’ve cleared jumps quite a few,
Done long jump, high jump, steeplechase, jumped from the highest tree,
So I’m sure I’ll jump this bungee, whatever that may be!
They took me up this real high tower, it was an awesome view!
The mongrels tied up both me legs! what were they gonna do?
They said to hold my hands out straight and count from one to five,
A push behind and I began a terrifying dive.
The ground rushed up to meet me, I prepared for certain death.
I’m telling you, it might well make the boldest hold their breath,
Just then the rope took up the slack. I was saved an awful fate,
But I tell you, jumping bungees is crossed off my list mate!
© Bill Gordon 3.4.2011
Gallery
Poets at Boyup Brook 2012
Roger Cracknell and Bill Gordon
Bush Poetry and Yarnspinning winners
Toodyay 2019
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275 Boyup Brook - Kojonup Rd
Boyup Brook WA 6244
0428 651 098