To Bob Bolton

You posted the thread below regarding two poems collected by Ron Edwards in 1991 from my Grandfather Billy Maddock. I was pleasently surprised to learn that he had allowed someone to record these poems as everytime a member of the family would ask to write them down he would not allow it. Billy's memory is not that great these days and he as actually forgotten a lot of them. I attempted to obtain a copy of the Australian Folklore Society Journal, Issues 1 to 20. (The Rams Skull Press, Kuranda, Queensland, Australia, 1993 – edited by Ron Edwards.) as listed in your thread, however am having a lot of trouble trying to locate them. I am obviously particularly interested in the 11 poems (well the other 9) that Ron Edwards collected from Billy? Was wondering if you could help me out with this. My email address is b.langtree@muir.ie. I know that the family would be very greatful to be able to preserve this very import part of my Grandfarthers character.   

The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #40206   Message #586525
Posted By: Bob Bolton
06-Nov-01 - 01:50 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: any song about the Kokoda Trail
Subject: Lyr Add: ONLY A Q
G'day again chrisj,

Here are a few items that relate to the query about songs from the Kokoda Campaign. These turned up while I was chasing something unrelated - but contributed by some veterans of that part of the World War, to a friend, folklorist Rob Willis.
The first relates to the vexed question of the "Chockos" – the Militia … conscripts fighting alongside the volunteers of the A.I.F. The second is included because it relates to that same terrain -–the high passes and dense jungle – now holding isolated pockets of Japanese forces determined not to suffer the dishonour of surrender.

I was chasing up something quite different, when I came across these two sets of words in a bound set of the These come from a series of eleven items collected in 1991 from Queenslander Bill Maddock. The Journal is printed without music and it is not clear whether either of these were songs or poems, as Bill did both. (I need to get in touch with Ron Edwards on other matters, so I will try to clear that up … whenever.

Regards,

Bob Bolton


ONLY A Q

As I sit and I write, a scene I can see
On the top of the mighty Tamboo.
A scene that made an impression on me
And I hope it does on you.

Two lonely graves exactly the same,
Fashioned from rude bamboo.
But one had an X in front of his name'
And the other - only a Q.

But lest we forget let us drink that toast,
And honour the mighty dead.
But which of them should we honour the most,
When both for this country bled.

Each gave his life, he could give no more,
Each fought for his country too.
But one had an X in front of his name,
And the other - only a Q.

Will the ghostly sentry turn him,
When he stands before the gate?
Will his wounds be his pass?
Or the letter engraved on the metal tag?

Is it true that they will scorn him?
Do dead men, like the living, brag?
But one had an X in front of his name,
And the other - only a Q.

Collector's Note:
"This was collected by Ron Edwards from Bill Maddock of Cairns, Queensland, 20 October 1991. He said that one of the boys wrote it during the war in P(apua/) N(ew) G(uinea). He explained that the soldier's serial numbers were prefixed with either a Q or an X. The men with the X were enlisted, but those with a Q had been conscripted and, as a result, were looked down upon by some members of the public."

Bill Maddock, born 18 June 1925, was modelled after the old style bush poet and yarn spinner. He had a yarn for every occasion, and a joke for every circumstance, and he had a good collection of songs and recitations. Most of these were popular songs of the day, but amongst his repertoire were a number of other interesting items. …
He had served in the Army as a young man during the Second World War, mainly in New Guinea, and a lot of his items were learned then, but he also had songs and recitations that he had picked up while working as a carpenter and builder around Cape York, the Gulf Country and in the Cairns area."

Another of Bill's items relates to the general scene of the Kokoda – but comes from the tail end of the campaign against the Japanese – when the last pockets of resistance were being "mopped up" – often against fanatical resistance.

BTW: I like the way that the usaul image of the Pearly Gates and the patriarchal St Peter have turned into "the ghostly sentry ... When he stands before the gate?

Mopping up

We're nineteen dead in the Bunie trail,
Ten more on the jungle track,
And all day long there's a steady stream,
Of our wounded flowing back.
We fought all night by the Hongari,
With never a bite or sup,
But tomorrow's back page news will quote;
"Our soldiers are just mopping up".

Collector's Note:
"Collected by Ron Edwards from Bill Maddock of Cairns, Qld, 19 Oct 1991. This was composed in Borneo in 1945, by either Tiger Connell or Hank Hansen, Bill wasn't quite sure."