Category Archives: Australian children’s poetry

Getting Sorted by James Aitchison

Leave a comment

One day I opened my wardrobe

and all the junk fell out!

Ten pairs of filthy shoes 

and a half-eaten Brussels sprout.

There were socks that smelled really gross,

some old underpants and a book,

and in a plastic lunchbox,

I found the remains of a chook.

A football my dog had chewed,

a tube of cream for my zits,

a few dead flies and a lizard,

and a shirt that no longer fits.

Such a disgusting mess —

I didn’t know what to say.

Back into the wardrobe it went,

To be sorted another day!

Image from Pixabay

Change the Date by Angelina Maranesi

2 Comments

Celebration of our Nation.
Australia Day.

Let’s choose a date.
Let’s have the debate
to choose a day not tarnished by invasion.
A day that isn’t tainted.
A day that’s not divisive.

Choose a day
to share our stories,
our heartaches and our glories.

Choose a day
to celebrate our culture.
Making peace our future.
Sharing traditions,
food, language, song and dance.
Let’s give everyone a chance.

Choose a day
to own our true history.
To wrap around our first people,
the ancestors of this land.
We need to make a stand
to acknowledge and celebrate
the oldest culture on earth.

Choose a day
for healing,
compassion
and acceptance.
Choose a day for all of us
to celebrate our nation.

Advance Australia Fair

Leave a comment

Australians all let us rejoice, 
For we are one and free; 
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil; 
Our home is girt by sea; 
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts 
Of beauty rich and rare; 
In history’s page, let every stage 
Advance Australia Fair. 
In joyful strains then let us sing, 
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross 
We’ll toil with hearts and hands; 
To make this Commonwealth of ours 
Renowned of all the lands; 
For those who’ve come across the seas 
We’ve boundless plains to share; 
With courage let us all combine 
To Advance Australia Fair. 
In joyful strains then let us sing, 
Advance Australia Fair.

From 1 January 2021, the second line of the Australian National Anthem was changed from ‘For we are young and free’ to ‘For we are one and free’.

https://www.pmc.gov.au/honours-and-symbols/australian-national-symbols/australian-national-anthem

Bobby the Bilby by Linda Davidson

1 Comment

Bobby the Bilby is cute as can be.
He’s very shy and hides from me.
With long ears and a pointy nose
He builds his burrow with clawed toes.

I want to pat his soft grey fur.
Down a burrow he dashes in a blur.
Should I wait in the pale moonlight,
or come back again tomorrow night?

TIME TO GROW by Sharon Davson

In a Lava Cave by James Aitchison 

1 Comment

This cave is at Undara,

a short walk from our bus.

The cave is nice and cool —

outside it’s 40 plus!

Forty thousand bats

call these caves their home,

and when the sun goes down,

the bats fly out to roam. 

But when they do — watch out!

There’s danger in the night:

snakes jump out from trees

and catch them in mid-flight.

The moral of the story?

See lava caves by day!

And keep the bats and snakes

well out of your way.

Undara Lava Tubes, North Queensland. Photo by Ginette Pestana

I Close My Eyes by Diane Finlay

Leave a comment

I close my eyes: it’s dark inside my head
but only for a moment.
Then softly, with my fingertips
gently press my eyelids – to make the colours come.

Sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes round and round;
they dance
like fireworks inside my brain.

I close my eyes: it’s dark inside my head
but only for a moment.
Then softly, with my fingertips
gently press my eyelids – to find the wiggly worms

sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes round and round;
they float
across my eyelid screen.

Image by Pixabay

Postcard from a Penguin by James Aitchison

Leave a comment

Hello, human,

how do you do?

Today’s my day

to write to you.

I’m a bird,

but I don’t have wings.

I have flippers —

very handy things!

I can fly through water

in search of fish.

A nice fresh squid 

is my favourite dish.

Some of us are blue,

others black and white;

when we come ashore

we make a great sight.

We hope you’ll always

be our friend —

keep the oceans clean

from end to end!

With waddling wishes,

         A penguin

Image from Pixabay

BUTTERFLY MOTHER by Dianne Bates

2 Comments

Dancing the tune of the breeze
She lifts her coat sleeves –
And freezes as if in prayer
To breed in the shady leaves;
Green confetti in air.

On the rib-case underneath –
A waxy seam of leaf,
Tiny eggs, colour of cream
Are stuck with butterfly paste.
Blue lady lifts as a dream,
Leaving them, to hatch or waste.

Who knows where she goes
Blue butterfly mother?

Image by Pexels

Midnight Glider by Celia Berrell

Leave a comment

I had a dream the other night.
At first, it gave me quite a fright.
I thought the Moon was falling, ’til
it landed on my windowsill.
She fluffed her fur and shook her head
then gracefully leapt onto my bed
It’s not the Moon, it’s not a spider.
Instead, a silver Greater Glider!
At 12pm, the midnight hour,
a clock struck twelve. A sense of power
shimmered through her moonshine coat,
as she began to grow and float.
“Climb aboard”, she said with pride
and took me on a midnight ride.
Swooping through the starry night,
two new-found friends in sheer delight.

from the painting TIME TO GROW by Sharon Davson

A Nothing Day by Angelina Maranesi

Leave a comment

A stay at home day today.
A quiet, nothing day.
I build a multilevel carpark for my cars.
Baby sister knocks it down. Arggh…..
I jump high on my trampoline to peek next door.
A kookaburra laughs.
I laugh back.
Jump, laugh, jump, laugh.
I lay on my trampoline to rest,
and make pictures from the clouds.
Dinosaur, bird, dolphin, a funny face.
I hide from baby sister in the garden.
A lizard scoots past. I chase. It’s too fast.
The trees are squawking.
I count the birds in my backyard tree.
Eighteen!
I ride my scooter
and pretend I’m travelling far away to somewhere where the action is.
Away from my quiet, nothing day.
I try to teach Leo to fetch.
I throw, he barks, I fetch.
Leo doesn’t understand the rules of the game.
Dinner tonight is my favourite, Spaghetti and meatballs.
A bubble bath and a snuggle with baby sister before bed.
My quiet, nothing day was actually really something.

from the painting TIME TO GROW by Sharon Davson