The Babies of Walloon

 The Babies of Walloon

This is a good picture of local public art. 

Walloon is a town of some 1500 people just down the road from Rosewood where my wife Jo and I are currently staying.  We drive some 10 – 12 miles to get back to our real residence (which is still flood affected), and often drive past the park where these statues are...

The two little girls drowned in a billabong or pond in the early 1890’s and a famous Australian writer called Henry Lawson wrote a poem about them and the pioneering families that help make Australia great. 

This plaque is situated at the back of the park with the statures of the babies about 50 yards away.  Henry Lawson wrote many stories about the early Australian life in the Bush.  I have often laughed at some of his funny stories and most Australians have read some of his work at some stage of their lives.

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Here is the poem written by Henry Lawson in 1891

He was  lengthsman on the railway, and his station scarce deserved
That “pre-eminence in sorrow” of the Majesty he served,
But as dear to him and precious were the gifts reclaimed so soon—
Were the workman’s little daughters who were buried near Walloon.

Speak their names in tones that linger, just as though you held them dear;
There are eyes to which the mention of those names will bring a tear.
Little Kate and Bridget, straying in an autumn afternoon,
Were attracted by the lilies in the water of Walloon.

All is dark to us. The angels sing perhaps in Paradise
Of the younger sister’s danger, and the elder’s sacrifice;
But the facts were hidden from us, when the soft light from the moon
Glistened on the water-lilies o’er the Babies at Walloon.

Ah! the children love the lilies, while we elders are inclined
To the flowers that have poison for the body and the mind.
Better for the “strongly human” to have done with life as soon,
Better perish for a lily like the Babies of Walloon.

For they gather flowers early on the river far away,
Where the everlasting lilies keep their purity for aye,
And while summer brings our lilies to the run and the lagoon
May our children keep the legend of the Babies of Walloon.