It’s no secret that Australians love a good bush ballad. We know Waltzing Matilda and The Man from Snowy River as iconic representations of the national spirit. But there’s even more to us than that. We break new ground, say what we think, and stick up for the underdog. These five poets show us that representation is for all Australians, and they have used their voices to great effect.
1. Dorothy Porter
Mickey’s ghost walks
in this tropical rain
she swings in the fig trees
her voice
glistens green and wet
she’s growing dark
she’s wearing a monkey’s mask.
Dorothy Porter, The Monkey’s Mask, 1994
Dorothy Porter was born in Sydney in 1954. She was a notable figure for the LGBT community—known for her exciting and unique contribution to Australian poetry. The Monkey’s Mask is Porter’s multiple-award-winning verse novel. It combines an erotic lesbian detective story with poetry, following a detective who falls in love with a suspect in her case. In 2000, it was turned into a thriller film directed by Samantha Lang. Porter wrote other dark crime verse but also focused on themes such as love, cancer, and literary criticism. She lived with partner and fellow writer Andrea Goldsmith, and died in 2008 from breast cancer.
2. Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Gumtree in the city street,
Hard bitumen around your feet,
Rather you should be
In the cool world of leafy forest halls
And wild bird calls
Here you seems to me
Like that poor cart-horse
Castrated, broken, a thing wronged,
Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged,
Whose hung head and listless mien express
Its hopelessness.
Municipal gum, it is dolorous
To see you thus
Set in your black grass of bitumen–
O fellow citizen,
What have they done to us?
Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Municipal Gum (excerpt), 1960
Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal (formally known as Kath Walker) was an Aboriginal poet and activist, born in 1920. The Noonuccal people were the traditional inhabitants of North Stradbroke Island. Oodgeroo’s poetry is known for her straightforward language and politically charged content. She was heavily involved in Aboriginal rights, both politically and in her poetry, which was only matched by her passion for education. Municipal Gum is a short, hard-hitting poem.
3. Christopher Barnett 
when they came
for furkan
waves wept
for such a sailor
does not come
often enough
this night
i imagine
four holes
in furkan’s head
& weep
not only
for him
& the other
heroes the other
naturally the other
is multiple
& resistant the other
always the other
Christopher Barnett, when they came/ for you elegies/ of resistance (excerpt), 2013
Christopher Barnett is a poet and playwright who was active in the Adelaide and Melbourne poetry scenes, before leaving Australia for France. His approach to both poetry and politics is revolutionary. Barnett initially posted fragments of his epic poem when they came/ for you elegies/ of resistance on his facebook page, before publishing the full text as a book. It deals with the death of Furkan Dogan, a Turkish American man killed in the Gaza flotilla raid. Barnett’s work is both confronting and without closure, and still a compelling read.
4. Ouyang Yu
in a night without time
when I mourn over the loss of
an ancient Chinese poem
a thousand years ago about now
but moon over melbourne
that knows nothing of that
a young one just 200 seconds old
with a man-made light that is not only cold
you mooch over melbourne
in an air-conditioned mood
how is it you look so bloody australian
so i-wouldn’t-care-less tonight?
Ouyang Yu, Moon Over Melbourne (excerpt), 1995
Ouyang Yu was born in China in 1955. He studied English, American, and Australian literature in China before moving to Australia in 1991, where he completed a Ph. D. examining the representation of the Chinese in Australian literature. But Yu is not just a scholar. He has received awards for his work as an editor and translator and is known widely for his creative writing. His poetry addresses themes of multiculturalism and Australian cultural identities. Moon Over Melbourne is a perfect example of his unapologetic confrontation with Australian culture.
5. Lionel Fogarty
Remember the hell
that flung like bells.
It is said, mornings will be broken
and hells will be ahead.
We intended to harm
but in turn
cut off our arms,
concerned with our truth
they say they are.
Lionel Fogarty, For Brother: D.B.W. (excerpt), 1980
Lionel Fogarty was born in 1958 in Queensland. He moved to Brisbane when he was 16 and became involved in the Aboriginal rights movement. He took on issues such as healthcare, legal services, and land rights, as well as Aboriginal deaths in custody. His brother, Daniel, died in police custody in 1993. Fogarty’s work is often political, and he makes unapologetic use of Aboriginal English. His work has been influential in both Aboriginal and white Australian poetic discourse. For Brother: D.B.W is an example of his distinctive and post-surreal, politically-charged style.
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