The Kangaroo Hunt or a Morning in the Mountains : A Descriptive Poem in Six Parts single work   poetry   "Here in the Forest; afar and free"
  • Author:agent Charles Harpur http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/harpur-charles
Issue Details: First known date: 1860... 1860 The Kangaroo Hunt or a Morning in the Mountains : A Descriptive Poem in Six Parts
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Australian Home Companion and Band of Hope Journal vol. 5 28 July 1860 11990860 1860 newspaper issue 1860 pg. 345-346
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Australian Home Companion and Band of Hope Journal 22 September 1860 12379344 1860 newspaper issue 1860 pg. 6
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur Charles Harpur , Elizabeth Perkins (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1984 Z459555 1984 selected work poetry satire 'This collection represents one version of almost every poem written by Charles Harpur, with the omission of some translations and paraphrases. The verse drama, "Stalwart the Bushranger", and the fragments of the dramatic poem "King Saul" are not included. ... The collection is edited from Harpur's manuscript poems held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, and from printed copies in colonial newspapers when no manuscript version existed.' (Preface) Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1984 pg. 458-491

Works about this Work

Representations of ‘The Bush’ in the Poetry of Charles Harpur Elizabeth Webby , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014;

'The first month of 2013 was marked by two very different events. On 12 January, the Governor General, stars of stage and screen, politicians and other notables attended the Sydney Theatre for the opening night of The Secret River, Andrew Bovell’s adaptation of Kate Grenville’s best-selling if controversial novel. On 23 January a much smaller group of academics and other lovers of Australian literature gathered in Canberra to celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Harpur, Australia’s first notable poet. While the people involved in these two events were very different, with one attracting much publicity and other none, there was a link. The Secret River, as a program note testifies, ‘takes place in the Hawkesbury River region of New South Wales between 1814-15’. Charles Harpur had been born in Windsor, the major town on the Hawkesbury, a year earlier. Like William Thornhill in the play, his father Joseph was a former convict who received a free pardon from Governor Macquarie in 1815. By then he was the schoolmaster at Windsor, where he had a grant of land, so that, unlike Thornhill’s children, Harpur grew up with books as his companions.

'In the stage adaptation of The Secret River, Stephen Curtis’s set gives a powerful representation of the beauty and the might of the bush before white settlement, a beauty sullied at the end of the play as Thornhill draws the lines of a fence on the backcloth. For the characters in the play, the bush represents different things: it is home for the Indigenous family, the hope of a prosperous future for Thornhill, a place of fun and games for Dick Thornhill, Garraway and Narabi, but totally alien to Sal Thornhill who never stops longing for London. How did Harpur, growing up on the Hawkesbury during this period, represent the bush and its Indigenous inhabitants? This essay will focus in particular on ‘Lost in the Bush’ and ‘The Kangaroo Hunt’.' (Publication abstract)

Sense and Nonsense J. J. Healy , 1989 single work criticism
— Appears in: Literature and the Aborigine in Australia 1770- 1975 1989; (p. 91-112)
Charles Harpur and John Gould Robert Dixon , 1980 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 40 no. 3 1980; (p. 315-329)
Harpur's Notes and Kendall's Bell Birds Elizabeth Perkins , 1972 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 5 no. 3 1972; (p. 277-284) Henry Kendall : The Muse of Australia 1992; (p. 139-149)
Charles Harpur's Extinct Birds Alec H. Chisholm , 1960 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 21 September vol. 81 no. 4206 1960; (p. 16,18)
The Kangaroo Hunt or a Morning in the Mountains : A Descriptive Poem in Six Parts : Preface Charles Harpur , (Manuscript version)x400904 Z26878 1863 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur 1984; (p. 453-457)
Charles Harpur's Extinct Birds Alec H. Chisholm , 1960 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 21 September vol. 81 no. 4206 1960; (p. 16,18)
Sense and Nonsense J. J. Healy , 1989 single work criticism
— Appears in: Literature and the Aborigine in Australia 1770- 1975 1989; (p. 91-112)
Charles Harpur and John Gould Robert Dixon , 1980 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Southerly , September vol. 40 no. 3 1980; (p. 315-329)
Harpur's Notes and Kendall's Bell Birds Elizabeth Perkins , 1972 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 5 no. 3 1972; (p. 277-284) Henry Kendall : The Muse of Australia 1992; (p. 139-149)
Last amended 6 Nov 2008 16:14:03
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