The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song Cycle

"The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song Cycle"
by Les Murray
Written	1976
First published in	The Herald
Country	Australia
Language	English
Publication date	7 September 1976

The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song Cycle (1976) is a poem by Australian writer Les Murray. It was originally published in The Herald newspaper on 7 September 1976, ^[1] and later included in several of the poet's collections and other poetry anthologies.

Synopsis

The poem is written "in an Australian Aboriginal meter (derived essentially from music – clapsticks and didgeridoo – and dance)" and "is based thematically and structurally on R. M. Berndt's translation of the Wonguri-Mandjikai song, 'The Moon-bone Song', from north-eastern Arnhem Land." ^[2]

The poem describes the annual migration of holiday-makers, during the end of year summer period, to the mid-north coastal region of NSW between Bulahdelah and Taree.

Critical reception

In a review of the poet's collection Ethnic Radio critic Thomas Shapcott called it a poem "of perhaps far-reaching implications. There is an almost Whitmanesque collective and accretive rhetoric." ^[3]

In his book Reading Australian Poetry Andrew Taylor commented "Murray's attempted fusion of cultures is itself an ideological act, as is his arranging them in oder of distinctiveness. In this arrangement urban culture is clearly third best, while rural culture is shown as converging with the Aboriginal. Perhaps, more accurately, Aboriginal culture which was destroyed by white settlement is shown as re-emerging within rural culture". ^[4]

Critic Jonathan Dunk, writing about Murray's oeuvre after the poet's death, called the poem "uncomplicatedly evil". He explained this by noting that it is "an extremely sophisticated version of [the logic of elimination], it appropriates the cadence and the ideas of Aboriginal culture to describe and praise the white Australian society which tried so hard to eliminate it." ^[5]

Publishing history

After its initial publication in The Herald in 1976 the poem was reprinted as follows:

• Ethnic Radio by Les Murray, Angus and Robertson, 1977 ^[6]
• The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry edited by Chris Wallace-Crabb, Melbourne University Press, 1980 ^[7]
• The Vernacular Republic : Poems 1961-1981 by Les Murray, Angus and Robertson, 1982 ^[8]
• Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1984 ^[9]
• My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer, Lansdowne, 1985 ^[10]
• Selected Poems by Les Murray, Carcanet, 1986 ^[11]
• Contemporary Australian Poetry: An Anthology edited by John Leonard, Houghton Mifflin, 1990 ^[12]
• Collected Poems by Les Murray, Heinemann, 1994 ^[13]
• Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard, Oxford University Press, 1998 ^[14]
• New Selected Poems by Les Murray, Duffy and Snellgrove, 1998 ^[15]
• Learning Human : Selected Poems of Les Murray by Les Murray, Duffy and Snellgrove, 2003 ^[16]
• Selected Poems by Les Murray, Black Inc, 2007 ^[17]
• Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011 ^[18]
• The Best 100 Poems of Les Murray by Les Murray, Black Inc, 2012 ^[19]

Notes

• You can read the full text of the poem on the "clivejames.com" website. ^[20]

See also

• 1976 in Australian literature

References

1. "Austlit — "The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song Cycle" by Les Murray". Austlit. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
2. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, 1986, p122. Accessed: 18 December 2025
3. ""Putting our poets in perspective"". The Age, 1 July 1978, p23. ProQuest   2520845891 . Retrieved 18 December 2025.
4. Reading Australian Poetry by Andrew Taylor, University of NSW Press, 1987, p.148
5. ""The stump: looking back on the Republic of Murray"". Overland, 7 June 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
6. "Ethnic Radio by Les Murray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
7. "The Golden Apples of the Sun : Twentieth Century Australian Poetry edited by Chris Wallace-Crabb". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
8. "The Vernacular Republic : Poems 1961-1981 by Les Murray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
9. "Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
10. "My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
11. "Selected Poems by Les Murray (Carcanet 1986)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
12. "Contemporary Australian Poetry: An Anthology edited by John Leonard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
13. "Collected Poems by Les Murray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
14. "Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
15. "New Selected Poems by Les Murray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
16. "Learning Human : Selected Poems of Les Murray by Les Murray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
17. "Selected Poems by Les Murray (Black Inc, 2007)". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
18. "Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
19. "The Best 100 Poems of Les Murray by Les Murray". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
20. ""The Buladelah-Taree Holiday Song Cycle"". clivejames.com. Retrieved 18 December 2025.