Australia's award-winning young poet shares his voice
The winners of the 38th Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards, Australia's longest-running poetry competition, have been announced.
23 September 2022
The David Maher Award Winner Liam Dau, Year 5 student from Urbenville Public School has won the award for Best individual entry from a small school with 25 students or less for his poem called "The Brumbies".
The Brumbies
The brumbies are majestic, they are wild and untamed
Intelligent, brave of Snowy River fame
Watching them as they gallop through the mountain snow
The stallion moves them to the water hole he knows
Always alert, he protects his herd, his foals and all his mares
Never stopping, ears are pricked, constantly aware
They amble from the water hole with matted manes and tangled tails Through the eucalypts, the wattle and up the rocky trails
The stallion whinnies loudly and the herd it starts to move
This seems to signal danger or just a kangaroo
The herd moves in unison like a choreographed dance
Down the hill, across the river, they gallop the expanse
Of grassy plains and craggy knolls, they negotiate the land
These nimble beasts are mesmerising as they canter through the sand And into the horizon I stand and watch them disappear
Their hoofprints all that is left behind of the beauty that was here
My heart it starts to wonder, where they all have gone
And how is it that we cannot give the brumbies a safe home?
- Your creative world