Summary

Patriotic poem of two stanzas titled 'Sonnets. Answer to an Australian'. Printed during World War I, the poem was written by 'E.M.C.' - Ethel M. Campbell - in Durban, South Africa. Its mention of 'thousands' of Australians on troopships suggests a date of 1915 or later. Other sources provide a date of 1917.

Ethel Campbell (1866-1954) was known for her enthusiastic greetings and farewells of Australian troopships in Durban during World War I. In 1923 she visited Australia to dedicate a memorial to Australian soldiers. She faced a 'formidable list of engagements' in Melbourne, including visits by 'several limbless men' who had 'first made her acquaintance at Durban in the war years'. (The Australasian, 7 July 1923). She later became a well-known poet and author in South Africa. While the provenance of this war-time poem by Ethel Campbell, acquired with a collection of similar poems, is unknown, the collection includes two poems which have been signed, possibly during her visit to Australia.

Physical Description

Poem of two stanzas, printed in black in single column on coarse brown stock. Paper has darkened on edges and at centre fold. Printed on front only. Superficial creasing throughout.

More Information

  • Collecting Areas

    Public Life & Institutions, Home & Community

  • Author

    Ethel M. Campbell, Durban, South Africa, 1917
    The date of 1917 is provided by Auslit, http://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A31268, accessed 15 Jan 2015

  • Inscriptions

    Printed: 'SONNETS. / ANSWER TO AN AUSTRALIAN. / And know I not Australia? - as you say, / I never passed that way, so how should I? - / Lad! U have seen in your young dauntless eye / The soul of your Australia far away; / And I have seen her giant mountain crag / Reflected in her mighty steadfast men. / What! did you thin to keep her secret, then / For those who roam her hills and share her flag? / Vain thought! her open-hearted men and free / (Uncurbed by sordid tyranny of class), / Give up the secret as their troopships pass, / And knowing them, I know what she must be. / And know I not Australia? Lad, I know! / She keeps no secret where her thousands go.' One stanza follows. Final line: 'DURBAN. / By E.M.C.'.

  • Classification

    Military history, Civilian life, Souvenirs

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    History

  • Type of item

    Document

  • References

    THE GIRL WITH THE FLAGS. (1919, March 17). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 8. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from [Link 1] MISS ETHEL CAMPBELL. (1919, April 26). Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), p. 39. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from [Link 2] MISS ETHEL CAMPBELL. (1923, July 7). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 40. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from [Link 3] Ethel M. Campbell, Rare Books - Important Acquisitions, National Library of Scotland, [Link 4] accessed 15 Jan 2015

  • Keywords

    World War I, 1914-1918, Music, Poems