Here’s an appeal for a national poetry recitation competition.
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…
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Australian Children’s Poetry 
Hi Di,
Prince Alfred College, here in Adelaide, still have poetry recitations where each boy recites a given piece of poetry and also one of their own choice.
kind regards Janeen
Janeen Brian Award-winning author website: http://www.janeenbrian.com.au facebook: http://www.facebook.com.au/janeen.brian email: janeen@janeenbrian.com postal: 11 Short Ave, GLENELG EAST SOUTH AUSTRALIA 5045 phone / fax: (08) 8294 5703 FEATURED BOOKS
Eddie Pipper: shortlisted for Speech Pathology Awards, 2013 I’m a Dirty Dinosaur: selected for Get Reading! 2013
From: Australian Children’s Poetry Reply-To: Australian Children’s Poetry Date: Friday, 14 March 2014 7:46 AM To: Janeen Brian Subject: [New post] National Poetry Recitation Competition
WordPress.com australianchildrenspoetry posted: “Here’s an appeal for a national poetry recitation competition.”
Hooray for Prince Alfred College and also to you for inspiring the students! If any of them wants to write an article about the project, I’m happy to post it on this site. Di