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Article: Joys and sorrows of a poet who loved the bush.
- Article from:
- M A R G I N: life & letters in early Australia
- Article date:
- November 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Mulini Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
I have never forgotten that dreadful evening. Even now, when I think of it, I can see my brother Washington galloping wildly home screaming, "Charlie's shot. Charlie's dead."
So Mary Araluen, daughter of the poet Charles Harpur, remembered as an old woman, that tragic day when her brother died in a shooting accident. It was March 2 1867.
That day Harpur gave permission for his two sons, Washington and Charlie, aged fifteen and thirteen, to go on a shooting expedition along the coast from their home on the Tuross River. On the way home the boys stopped to shoot a duck. At the coroner's inquest Washington later described ...