The Australian Eden
Norman Talbot
It’s a rum sort of Garden of Eden
With its bushfires, its floods, and its drought,
But the Kooris have dwelt here since time began
And they never were thrown out.
When the Snake came tempting Australia’s Eve
In the way it always did
To pluck and eat the very fruit
The Creator had forbid,
The Koori girl stayed obedient,
Loved God for God’s own sake,
So she left the bush apple on its bush
And skinned, and et, the snake.
Norman included this poem in his Backhouse Lecture in 1999. We thought it was worth republishing it.
I’m curious about the attribution of this article:
2009 September 2020????
Norman died in 2004. When was the poem first written??
Hi Julie
As you can see, we’ve noted that the poem was first published in Norman’s 1999 Backhouse Lecture. We obtained consent from his wife Jean before republishing it.