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the rabbit - [ Review ]
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the rabbit

by liarbird

‘By jove my brother dear, the place is cursed by drying heat and flies.
How I miss our hunting forays, where the English common lies,
So different are the hunting fields, as too the local hunting habits.
How I surely miss the chase, the kill, the taste of roasted rabbits.
* * * * *
From far away in Somerset, a gift to fill a settlers heart,
Twenty-four prime rabbits for Tom Austin, whose run was ‘Barwon Park’,
Not to be caged or nurtured pets, but the freedom of the station,
To be closely guarded, from any poaching situation.

‘Thank you brother James, for your kindness and your trouble,
Already in a few short weeks, I’m sure I’m seeing double,
It won’t be long before, on these ‘bunnies’ we will dine’.
Tom Austin sent this letter back, some time in eighteen fifty-nine.

Family and friends were offered, the odd shot but not to rout,
For Tom didn’t want to see, his rabbits get wiped out,
T’was then a furrowed brow. Tom Austin knew something was wrong,
Each day he took to notice, more of his crop was gone.

If Tom Austin thought the rabbit, would stay upon his run,
When it could breed much quicker, than he could load his gun,
Sadly his mistake, within ten years accumulated
Into disaster on this land, which could not be overstated.

By seventy-two the Murray, proved to be no barrier.
By eighty-six the pest, had reached the Queensland border.
All that’s in the rabbits path, be it seedlings, roots or grass,
Turned to dust, there’s no control, the rabbit just swept past.

In eighteen-eighty seven, New South Wales faced devastation.
Politicians hope a bounty, may retrieve the situation.
Twenty five million rabbit skins were put up for reward.
To pay that kind of money, government could not afford.
* * * * *
How this land has suffered, the situations still the same,
No re-growth then erosion, the rabbit is the blame,
Scientific measures have bought hope, only to fade away.
I wonder if Tom Austin is turning in his grave.

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the rabbit

Added on: 08-Oct-2009 Hits: 297