FRANKLIN’S RIVER

Ken Ferguson


“For John Franklin, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Dieman’s Land in the 1840s, a trip to the West Coast was a welcome respite from the political jungle of Hobart Town. A contrast that has more recent reverberations.” KF, 1990

A winding path has led us here
From Derwent to Arrowsmith’s quartz grey peak
Lowering forest and sodden heath
Aching bones and rattling teeth
The clouds above, the earth beneath
Leaving the world behind.

And all this way the forest’s hush
No barking dog nor settler’s axe
Just the cry of a cockatoo
Or rarer still, a kangaroo
In the groves that the sorrowing native knew
All trace of him is gone.

And the rain falls down on Franklin’s river
So much that the water and air are one
Watercolour hues and a fragile beauty
Free from the restless hand of man.

Now on the shining river’s side
We lie in Eden’s innocent vale
The serpent glides but the fruit is free
Of poisoned word or traitor’s creed
Of envy’s leer or careless greed
Like Man before The Fall.

And the rain falls down on Franklin’s river
So much that the water and air are one
Watercolour hues and a fragile beauty
Free from the restless hand of man.


Ken Ferguson, 1990. From his 1997 CD “Basic Blue”.
(the late) Ken, along with Tony Phipps, wrote a “Folk Opera” concerning Tasmanian Governor John Franklin, which was performed in Perth, WA, but unfortunately I have not yet located any more info about this project - (nor his others) - online.
I posted here on March 5th, “Alice on the Line” from his and Bloodwood’s project “The Singing Wire”.


https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/11/05/2734403.htm Sir John Franklin was the most distinguished man to be appointed Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land…..

A 1980 journey down the Franklin River in Tasmania’s SW with the late Romanian botanist, Antonius Moscal : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCCGkRoChQ

And more recently, the exciting possibilities of the world-renowned : “Top river journeys: Rafting the Franklin River :   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__6KXCAKHGM&t=319s


R-J