Once upon a time young Australians were encouraged in schools to learn poems off by heart and to recite them. This follows a long of recitation of poems by such luminaries as ‘Banjo’ Patterson, Henry Kendall, Dorothea McKellar, John O’Brien, CJ Dennis and Adam Lindsay Gordon. As well as poems by Australians, I remember as a school child learning and reciting Alfred Noyes’ ‘The Highwayman’, ‘Matilda’ (Hilaire Belloc) and ‘The Listeners’ (Walter De La Mare.)
It seems as though poetry recitation by young people in Australia is now a thing of the past, and, so far as I know, there is nothing in Australia such as the recitation competitions which are held annually in the UK.
Thanks to a contribution to this site by Australian children’s poet Kate O’Neill, I learnt this week of two UK projects that encourage young people to learn poetry off by heart — and recite them for prizes.
These competitions are as follows:
Poetry by Heart is a pioneering national competition designed to encourage UK pupils aged 14-18 and at school and college in England to learn and to recite poems by heart. http://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/
In the UK, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have partnered with U.S. state arts agencies to support Poetry Out Loud, a contest that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. http://www.poetryoutloud.org/
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if an Australian/s decided to make this a project in our country? (What are you waiting for?)
I would be very interested to hear of someone who would like to work with me to make the dream of a national poetry recitation competition a reality. Contact me on dibates@outlook.com
Dianne (Di) Bates www.enterprisingwords.com.au
Australian Children’s Poetry 
Reblogged this on Australian Children's Poetry and commented:
Here’s an appeal for a national poetry recitation competition.
Hello Di,
My name is Mindi Del Mundo, I am a school Chaplain in the Roma State College in Roma, Queensland.
In this school, poetry recitation competition is not a common thing, not popular or not known to the students nor to the school officials; maybe because of the population of Roma and we only have three schools here which one of them is TAFE
As their Chaplain, I would like to enhance the students’ confidence and competence, not just in this competition but in all other things that will help them in the process of growing up and improving their values in life towards the future ahead of them, and one is to be able to prove that we can go out of our shells and face competitions wherever we maybe in Australia, we won’ t grow old having regrets and should learn to overcome our obstacles if we start now by introducing this poetry competition to this community.
I don’t know how to start or how to introduce this idea to our schools here in Roma. This is the first time I have worked as a school Chaplain and I would like to be able to contribute to the wellness of our students here.
Any one of our regular contributors please feel free to answer this. Thankyou.