Poets Corner Archives - CONTACT magazine

Poets Corner

The Power of Kokoda

07/10/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 145 Views 0 Comments By Dean Trevaskis

I’ll never known the sickening sound a fifteen-pounder makes That blows a mate to pieces as the ground around you

Australian soldiers from 8th/12th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, fire M2A 105mm howitzers as part of a reenactment during the 80th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin commemorative ceremony in Darwin, Northern Territory. Original photo by Leading Seaman Shane Cameron, digitally altered by CONTACT.

Poets Corner

THE STOCKMAN’S DAUGHTER

03/10/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 346 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

This town is still familiar, for I lived here long ago Gazing down Kelly St, the memories begin to flow

A Mk VIII Spitfire, sporting the 'Grey Nurse' moniker used by 'Bobby' Gibbes, flying at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, Victoria (2011). This aircraft is now part of the RAAF's No. 100 Squadron, also known as the Air Force Heritage Squadron. Photo by Brian Hartigan.

Poets Corner

THE GHOST OF BOBBY GIBBES

30/08/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 541 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

Wartime fighter pilots, gallant knights of the air Few would ever make that claim, they wouldn’t ever dare Bobby Gibbes

Poets Corner

The Final Wakey (last night in Nui Dat)

18/08/202231/07/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 443 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

For twelve months, this place has been, the sum of all our fears But sadly, for many, it was their

A headstone of an unknown Australian soldier. Photo by Corporal Jake Sims.

Poets Corner

To the ones who didn’t come home

15/08/2022 Tom Liddell 388 Views 0 Comments By Tom Liddell

To the man who volunteered To fight a noble war In a country far away He’d never heard before He

Poets Corner

A Hymn written and sung for the final Chapel Service of OP ANODE in 2013

29/07/2022 Rev Mark J Dunn (Army Chaplain Ret'd) 489 Views 0 Comments By Chaplain Mark J Dunn

Celebrated in GBR Chapel, Solomon Islands, the last Worship Service of OP ANODE Sunday 28 July 2013 I wrote and

Battalion mascot, Corporal John MacArthur IV – "Stan the Ram" – during an 8/9RAR birthday parade at Gallipoli Barracks, Brisbane, on 31 October 2014. Photo by Corporal David Cotton.

Poets Corner

I Remember

17/07/2022 Mick Shave 491 Views 0 Comments By Michael Shave

I Remember Shouldn’t sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander? When first I joined the Army they

Australian infantry on. a jungle track, March 1945. Modified from original AWM 018301

Poets Corner

FACES IN THE MIST

07/07/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 627 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

I stand here this time each year, in the soft grey light of dawn To pay a silent tribute, to

Poets Corner

The Mascot

04/07/2022 Mick Shave 515 Views 0 Comments By Michael Shave

When I was stationed at Enoggera, as a young platoon sergeant with 9RAR, a Merino ram was offered, and accepted,

Photo by Warrant Officer Class Two Gary Ramage.

Poets Corner

The Choco

03/07/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 590 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

They all called us “Chocos”, cause we’d melt in the battle’s heat Yet we were sent in harms’ way, when

Sapper Lewis Coulter sweeps for mines during the 1st Combat Engineer Regiment Commanding Officers' Challenge held at Robertson Barracks, Northern Territory. Photo by Private Rodrigo Villablanca.

Poets Corner

The Australian Combat Engineer

03/07/202203/07/2022 Michael Braithwaite 909 Views 0 Comments By Michael Braithwaite

What do you blokes do? … ‘Blow up shit’….. I suspect it’s much more than that… body armour, Steyr, mine

Australian National Flag. Courtesy PM&C.

Letters to the Editor Poets Corner

Get Rid of the Fool in Green

03/07/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 580 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

I know this scribble is a touch repetitive but it’s very difficult to ignore such a slur directed at our

Frank Moffitt Australia Day in Brisbane with 1RAR, 1959.

Poets Corner

Many salutes to our cobber, Frank Moffitt

03/07/202203/07/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 346 Views 0 Comments By George Mansford

It is nearing 68 years since I returned late at night after leave in WA, and reported to the orderly

Poets Corner

BREAKERS CRY

24/06/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 417 Views 0 Comments

THE BREAKERS CRY FOR ALL THIS TIME BRINGING PEACE TO THIS WORN OUT LIE TURNING GRAVES, NO QUESTIONS RAISED THE

Private Adrian Crutchley and Corporal Hawkins, 7 Section, 6 Platoon, 6RAR, within canteen 'fragged' in a grenade attack on their position in East Timor, July 2000. Photo by Corporal Kevin Piggott.

Poets Corner

A Tully Moment

20/06/2022 Mick Shave 584 Views 0 Comments By Michael Shave

The subject matter for this poem suggested itself very early one morning at the Battle Inoculation Range when I and

Cropped from larger image of the Bronze 'Digger' at the Australian Memorial Park, Bullecourt, France, taken by Leading Seaman Justin Brown.

Poets Corner

THE SOLDIER ON THE PLINTH

16/06/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 492 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

I stand upon my lonely plinth, my eyes a stony gaze ‘Tis here I greet the morning sun, or watch

Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial in London. By Tim Rademacher (via Wikimedia Commons)

Poets Corner

A HAVEN IN GREEN PARK

01/06/202202/06/2022 Posted by Brian Hartigan 614 Views 0 Comments By Tomas 'Paddy' Hamilton

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the unveiling of the RAF Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park London – 28 June

Poets Corner

The Good Old Days

22/05/202222/05/2022 Mick Shave 756 Views 0 Comments By Michael Shave

In this age when bullying is such an item of concern I cannot help smiling whenever I recall my youth

Poets Corner

An Adrenaline Rush

08/05/202208/05/2022 Mick Shave 665 Views 0 Comments By Michael Shave

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT When hit by a high velocity bullet, The skull explodes and its contents spray Through shattered

Soldiers from Mentoring Task Force – Three (MTF-3) move away from a helicopter landing zone, after loading Australian casualties wounded by an improvised explosive device on a Bushmaster, in the Chora Valley, southern Afghanistan. Photo by Able Seaman Jo Dilorenzo.

Poets Corner

There’s them, There’s us

24/04/202224/04/2022 Mick Shave 877 Views 0 Comments By Michael Shave

Stand at ease; Attention; Move to the right in threes. Orders, orders, orders, Some of which were these. But really

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