Jeltje Fanoy #26 Clifton Hill ramblings

Inside this house, life began
with th bluestone foundations


outside, of course, a different story


prisoners quarrying th bluestone,
in exhausted work-gangs,


on th banks of the Merri Creek


and, out of view, th displaced families,
Wurundjeri, avoiding th authorities


but still setting up camp, to fish




Lorikeets fly over, magpies
strut about in th Darling Gardens


it's been a cold winter


when I came here, to live,
aged residents still remembered


th "blacks down th creek"


and how, as kids in th Depression,
they collected, from nearby factories


th scraps of tanned leather, for fuel


for "th coppers" of which we, in turn,
found rusted remnants in our backyards


and in th rambling, makeshift sheds




One Irish Hotel is still here, with folk now
serving enormous plates, hand-crafted beer


and replenishing a roaring, log fireplace