Bell ..... poem

Bell



The ferry bell rings 
through the morning fog
ding ding, ding ding
tells other boats it comes
through the briny deep
ding ding, ding ding

The paddle steamer
plied the harbour
where wind-blown waves
white in a sea breeze
whipped in after noon
on many sunny days

The old Double-guts
the Kangaroo
connected West and East
plied the river
for horse and cart
on its river beat

Grandfather went that way
with a cow from the farm
escaped into the lagoon
was caught again
and herded hard
to ride the ferry at noon

The great guns at the fort
crossed the river 
on the Double-guts
hauled to their nest
to guard the town
against Russian guns

Years swam by
until the ship died
to fade into history
then the old bell
was a gift to the school
becoming a memory

Hearing that bell as a child
call the school into class
ding ding, ding ding
one day I played the fool
hid in the bushes
ding ding, ding ding

Wandered in later
might have been caned
don't remember that displeasure
then the school moved
with a nice loud siren
so the bell became a treasure

Stolen once as a joke
stolen again with intent
when the bell really did escape
never seen for decades
despite many hunts
until seen in a dead man's estate

Far across country
north of Bass Strait
the buyer knew where it belong
gifted to the Maritime Museum
who were quite pleased 
until my old school came along

"That's our stolen bell!"
the teachers cried
and students wondered what was there
like Solomon's baby
a deal was struck
between school and museum to share

So the treasure returned
a circle through time
ding ding, ding ding
an echo of history
from an earlier age
ding ding, ding ding


Jaqi
Bluh

Monday
3
December
2018

Note ~ I never knew the Kangaroo, it was gone before my time, but I knew the bell, as a child, in the old Bellerive School, which may reveal my age. I went in search of the bell from the Kangaroo when seeking to found a local history museum in Bellerive in the 1990s ~ and could not find it. The bell had gone to Victoria, north across Bass Strait, but now it's back, to give form to its story, and a solid brass window into history. Looking at the photos, it is interesting to know and see that this ferry was a paddle steamer, but with only one wheel, concealed in the central area: and also that the ferry was a catamaran, with twin hulls. During its life, the Kangaroo, or the Double-guts, as it was popularly known as, served to transport people, animals and wagons across the River Derwent, between Hobart and Bellerive, in Tasmania, the island state of Australia. During the fear of a Russian invasion of Australia in the 1880s, forts were built around the harbour, including the Kangaroo Bluff Battery in Bellerive. The great guns for the battery at Bellerive were made in Scotland, transported to Hobart by ship, carried across the river on the Kangaroo, and were then hauled to the Kangaroo Bluff Battery, where two can still be seen. In a poetic twist, the Russian threat vanished when the emerging Japanese Empire defeated the Russians in a naval battle. Before the Second World War, scrap metal was being sold off to the Japanese, and two of the smaller guns were blown up at the Fort. This sent a shock-wave through the mudstone of the bluff, and cracks up through the brick house near-by. As a consequence, no more blowing up was permitted, so the two large guns have survived. When the smaller guns were blown up, pieces of metal rained down all over Bellerive, with some falling into the school playground, not far from the Fort. One piece of metal struck a duck, killing it, which is the only known death from the great guns that defended Hobart. When my art studio was in an old shop in Bellerive, I would walk around the Bluff, were Darwin once walked on his World cruise on the Beagle, and go to the Fort as dusk fell, as the stars appeared above, and as the lights of the harbour were spread around like a great twinkling necklace. One day I was lying there, by one of the old gun emplacements, and I thought, that is not a stone. And it wasn't. I had found a piece of metal from when the guns were blown up for the Japanese war machine. The Japanese did visit Hobart during WWII, flying a plane from a submarine, and soldiers stationed at the Fort duly shot at it, but the plane survived and returned to the submarine waiting out at sea.

Graphic ~ I found a really good looking brass bell in the Second Life Market Place, but that was only an image to advertise a sound. Rats. So then I bought a sculpt of a bell, lacking a texture, and applied a colour as best I could. The water wheel on my house is reminiscent of the single paddle wheel in the centre of the Kangaroo.

"In 1926 the bell off the paddle steamer P.S. Kangaroo was presented to the school by James O’May and was hung at the main entrance and was used to signify special times during the school day. Unfortunately the bell was stolen from the Leslie St site however was found again in 2013 and donated to the Maritime Museum. While the Museum owns the bell the school is the custodian of it and it can be viewed in the administraion area of the school.” ~

https://belleriveprimary.education.tas.edu.au/SitePages/history.aspx