The Painting
Crack through the forest
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
The paint was applied with care
of an island by the sea called Clyde's
where the sea crashes round
booming into an ocean cave
a place I have gone to many times
Strokes of the brush made a rainbow
like the Viking bridge to Valhalla
rising from the island and into the sky
when reports over the radio
told of events by some crazy fella
The mood of the Clyde's rock
reflected in the ocean of kelp
fresh salt smell by the shore
people shot at Port Arthur
police racing to help
The final sign of the artist applied
to tell who made this painting
that glistened fresh and oily
a house set on fire by the bay
by a man gone mad and ranting
Crack through the forest
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
Savage dogs once guarded the neck
to lock convicts in and keep others away
but they were long gone from paradise
when bitter tears began to flow
on that mad and shocking Sunday
Cruelty mocked through time
in that old convict country
romanced in pain and drudgery
echo of musket and crack of whip
where prisoners marched in slavery
How could a land of such beauty
be the home of so much cruelty
but as decades slide through time
memories settle into stone
in the river of our history
Staring at this canvas
with palette and brushes in hand
the pain became stained with the paint
of a mad day on the island
when no soul could make a stand
Crack through the forest
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
East Timor was once invaded
half a dozen Aussie news hounds killed
and the land imprisoned in suffering
with deaths way too many
until the shooting was stilled
A poll on liberty was held
setting East Timor free to declare
it's independent nation state
and we sent a gift to celebrate
the Clyde's Island painting to share
When painted pain from Port Arthur
seemed right for East Timor
two tragedies that must be healed
as oceans reshape the shore
finding new ways to restore
A photo flew back from the President
Xanana was holding Clyde's Island
the painting had made its journey
to be with a people now free
and share the song of their land
Crack through the forest
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
The paint was applied with care
of an island by the sea called Clyde's
where the sea crashes round
booming into an ocean cave
a place I have gone to many times
Strokes of the brush made a rainbow
like the Viking bridge to Valhalla
rising from the island and into the sky
when reports over the radio
told of events by some crazy fella
The mood of the Clyde's rock
reflected in the ocean of kelp
fresh salt smell by the shore
people shot at Port Arthur
police racing to help
The final sign of the artist applied
to tell who made this painting
that glistened fresh and oily
a house set on fire by the bay
by a man gone mad and ranting
Crack through the forest
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
Savage dogs once guarded the neck
to lock convicts in and keep others away
but they were long gone from paradise
when bitter tears began to flow
on that mad and shocking Sunday
Cruelty mocked through time
in that old convict country
romanced in pain and drudgery
echo of musket and crack of whip
where prisoners marched in slavery
How could a land of such beauty
be the home of so much cruelty
but as decades slide through time
memories settle into stone
in the river of our history
Staring at this canvas
with palette and brushes in hand
the pain became stained with the paint
of a mad day on the island
when no soul could make a stand
Crack through the forest
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
East Timor was once invaded
half a dozen Aussie news hounds killed
and the land imprisoned in suffering
with deaths way too many
until the shooting was stilled
A poll on liberty was held
setting East Timor free to declare
it's independent nation state
and we sent a gift to celebrate
the Clyde's Island painting to share
When painted pain from Port Arthur
seemed right for East Timor
two tragedies that must be healed
as oceans reshape the shore
finding new ways to restore
A photo flew back from the President
Xanana was holding Clyde's Island
the painting had made its journey
to be with a people now free
and share the song of their land
Crack through the forest
bullet flies
people fall down dead
no lies
in harsh times
Jaqi
Bluh
Monday
11
March
2019
Note ~ It was a terrible time in Tasmania when a man went mad with a gun at Port Arthur in 1996, killing men, women and children. It was a terrible time in East Timor when another nation went mad with guns, killing men, women and children, for decades, and more, in war. Having worked toward the freedom of East Timor, in a small way from the far flung island of Tasmania, it seemed right to gift my painting of Clyde's Island to the people of East Timor, completed as it was on the day of the tragic events at Port Arthur, though a far smaller tragedy than had befallen the people of East Timor. The island broods and looks out at the world, and the clouds were a maelstrom before that day, and the rainbow was like a bridge to the heavens. It was strange how all that came together with brushes into oil painting on canvas. I wonder what people see when they look upon that painting.
Clyde's Island is located at Eaglehawk Neck, between the Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas in Tasmania, which until 1853 was called Van Diemen's Land. The Neck once had a row of large savage dogs, to bark like mad should any convicts attempt to escape from the Tasmanian Peninsula, a prison land for convicts in the 1800s. A bizarre land, where the first railway in Australia ran on wooden tracks, with single cars pushed along by four convicts, who would then ride it downhill. A thrill for the passengers, maybe. Teams of convicts would carry large logs on their shoulders. The coal mine at Salt Water River, further round the Peninsula, was paradise above, and hell down below, where the worst of the worst were sent to suffer and dig. Many children were sent to Port Arthur, where some escaped by learning to fly, off a cliff. It was a harsh time. There is an Isle of the Dead in the bay by Port Arthur, with many fine tombstones, but none for deceased convicts buried there, as their graves were never marked with a stone. Many people from all parts of the World visit this physical forest of memories, which haunts with stones, old chains, and metal man traps that were once set in the forest. Have you been to Port Arthur? Some were sent there for the term of their natural lives, as the sentencing went back in merry old England. Off to Van Diemen's Land. Off to paradise, in ships that sometime sank, and for convicts locked below deck, there would be no escape. The father of Ned Kelly, that rather famous bushranger that made a last stand in armour, spent time in Port Arthur, as a convict.
The oil painting of Clyde's Island, 1996
President Xanana Gusmao holding Clyde's Island in East Timor in 2002
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