Poetry, music, yarns, patter and more...the weekend’s Binalong Bush Poetry Prize had it all, including the Australian Bush Poetry Association’s NSW Championships. Classical, original and contemporary bush poetry took the audience, many of whom had travelled from afar, on a journey to remember.
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It was standing room only in the hall on Sunday morning when the kids stole the show. Binalong and Bowning schools plus individual junior competitors performed to standing ovations.
Saturday night’s Celebrate Australia Concert saw the packed hall enthralled by seven top-class acts. The championships, held over two days, set a scintillating standard.
“It was such an exciting weekend,” Binalong Arts Group Inc President Robyn Sykes said. “Fabulous poets, enthusiastic crowds and a wonderful atmosphere. Huge thanks go to the many people, community groups, sponsors and others who helped make it happen.”
Community groups including the Tennis Club, Red Cross, Hall Committee, CWA and P & C, travellers and locals alike, Open mic and One Minute Poem events meant the shy, the novices and the suddenly-inspired could have a go.
The rustic scenery and decorations made the Mechanic Institute feel like a bush camp, highlighted by a wooden cockatoo on a stand, painted by Binalong’s local Archibald Prize winning artist, Janet Dawson. Cockatoo-inspired trophies from Peter Minson Art Glass complemented the theme.
Rhonda Tallnash (Violet Town Vic), Terry Regan (Blue Mountains) and (in absentia) Glenny Palmer from Queensland won the Bubbles Garry, Adrian Sykes and Isobel McDonald Awards (Women’s, Men’s and Written ABPA NSW Champions).
Gold sponsors ABPA, Mylora Pastoral, Sibelco and Yass Valley Wind Farm top the list of more than 30 sponsors.
