A HUNDRED years and more have run their course
Since settlers saw the River Hawkesbury,
And came to till the lands its floods enrich ;
And on the ridge near where a smaller stream
Flows on to meet the river’s ampler flow
They built their town, and Windsor it was called,
In fond allusion to the castled town
Upon the Thames.
And here the Governor,
Macquarie, built his simple country home,
And you may see it now, a lowly place,
A cottage of few rooms, of plastered walls,
With low verandah, looking out upon
The Court-house and the willow-fringed creek.
And here for many weeks in every year
Macquarie lived and cared for men, and had
A living sympathy with those who toiled –
The hardy pioneers of this fair land.
Alas ! their friend must leave. Authority
Recalled him home. But ere he went, grateful
They urged him to accept a parting gift
Of sixty pounds, to purchase for their sakes
Something that he might hold to speak of them
And of their gratitude. He took their gift,
And to a painter in Old England sat,
And sent them back in pictured form their gold.
And from the walls of Windsor’s Court-house still
Macquarie looks with grave and thoughtful face.
But the old cottage where the Governor lived,
Vice-regal residence of bygone days,
Neglected stands, and all in disrepair.
Let New South Wales preserve that early home,
And teach her children it is well to keep
And use memorials of the brave and strong,
Who greatly laboured for posterity,
And laid foundations which we build upon.
(Gerard Addington D Arcy Irvine)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Faces Poems, Place Poems, Home Poems, Gold Poems, Charity Poems, Courage Poems, Drawing & Painting Poems, Gratitude Poems, Posterity PoemsBased on Keywords: allusion, settlers, court-house, macquarie, disrepair, willow-fringed, hawkesbury, vice-regal