by CvdC » 03 Apr 2015, 03:51
In the 19th century colonists from England suffered dreadfully from home sickness. The appearance of a Punch show could bring on an attack of tearful nostalgia. In the early 1980's the shows I did had this same effect on elderly people who had come out after the war.
The poem was printed in a newspaper called: Empire (Sydney, NSW) Monday 6 March 1865
AN INCIDENT IN SYDNEY LIFE TWELVE
YEARS AGO.
From tho north, across the ocean,
Once a strolling player came ;
For in over-busy England
There was neither food nor fame.
He had shown his Punch and Judy
At a score of village fairs ;
Few were now tho public pennies,
Many now the snowman's cares.
Then he heard of foreign countries,
Of a land where all was now,
Where tho public pence were plenty,
And tho shows and showmen few.
So he took a weary voyage -
To this land of hope he sped;
And in reckless busy Sydney
Thought to find his daily bread.
Ah! the showman's heart was beating
As tho careless crowd passed by.
Underneath a comic seeming
What a world of care may lie.
Now the puppets all are ready,
And the poor old show begins.
Telling in tho new-built city
All the list of Punch's sins.
And the crowd come to a standstill,
One by one their eyes are caught.
What, a Punch - old Punch in Sydney,
O, how near old times are brought!
Closer comes a bearded bushman,
Rough - a colonist for years,
O'er the kind, but sunburnt features
Conics a dimness like to tears.
Once again, a little school-boy
In tho foggy London streets,
He is idling at tho corner,
Last to look at Punch's feats.
It has been my experience that I am always true from my point of view, and am often wrong from the point of view of my honest critics. I know that we are both right from our respective points of view. - Gandhi (Having a bob each way.)