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Adam Lindsay Gordon
Poet, Horseman
1833 - 1870

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Adam Lindsay Gordon's grave at Brighton Cemetery

Adam Lindsay Gordon's grave

THE
POET
GORDON

DIED JUNE 24. 1870
AGED 37 YEARS


QUESTION NOT, BUT LIVE AND LABOUR
TILL YON GOAL BE WON;
HELPING EVERY FEEBLE NEIGHBOUR,
SEEKING HELP FROM NONE.
LIFE IS MAINLY FROTH AND BUBBLE
TWO THINGS STAND LIKE STONE -
KINDNESS IN ANOTHER'S TROUBLE.
COURAGE IN YOUR OWN.

YE WEARIE WAYFARER

On the three remaining sides of the monument are the following inscriptions:

SEA SPRAY
AND
SMOKE DRIFT
ASHTAROTHBUSH BALLADS
AND
GALLOPING RHYMES

ADAM LINDSAY GORDON
POET AND HORSEMAN
TETHERED HIS HORSE TO THIS HITCHING POST
DURING HIS RESIDENCE IN BRIGHTON 1869-70
A SHINING SOUL WITH SYLLABLES OF FIRE
WHO SANG THE FIRST GREAT SONGS
THESE LANDS CAN CLAIM (KENDALL)
PRESERVED AND DEDICATED TO HIS MEMORY BY
THE UNITED LICENSED VICTUALLERS ASSOCIATION
20TH OCTOBER 1945

In additions to the monuments above, other tributes to Gordon can be found around Victoria and beyond.

  • On the highway near Coleraine Race Track is a monument commemorating Gordon's participation as a jockey there.
  • The Ballarat Botanical Gardens preserves his cottage (shifted from Bath Street)
  • In 2002 the Royal Grammar School Worcester, England opened a new building called Gordon House to celebrate 150 years since A L Gordon was at the school.
  • And, of course, he is still the only Australian poet to have a bust in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey in London. The bust was placed there in 1934.
 

Recommended listening: (CDs available from )

cover
Elgar: Sea Pictures
The Swimmer, probably Gordon's most powerful poem, was given an equally powerful musical setting by Edward Elgar in his Sea Pictures.. The performance by Dame Janet Baker and Sir John Barbirolli is regarded as one of the great recordings.

Buy this CD today from amazon.com

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Qantas In Flight Magazine chooses White Hat Cemetery Tour as its featured Australian tour for May

There are many fine historical tours throughout Australia including cemetery tours. From these, the prestigious Qantas In Flight Magazine has chosen the White Hat Tour of Melbourne Cemetery as its featured Australian tour for the May 2007 edition. This tour was also featured by ABC radio on 24 May and will feature in a documentary series on Burke and Wills to be shown on European television in 2008. The tour has been operating for many years and has won praise from a wide range of sources. This is not a dry and stuffy tour but in keeping with all White Hat offerings it is Informed, Intelligent, Independent (and occasionally) Irreverent. You can find details of the tour at White Hat Tour of Melbourne Cemetery and view the article at Qantas In Flight Magazine.

 

 

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