Wentworth, "Australasia": `Warragamba' -- a tributary of the Nepean,
the upper part of the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales.
Rowe, "Soul Ferry": "Founded on a note by Tzetzes upon Lycophron,
quoted in Keightley's `Mythology of Greece and Rome'." -- Author's Note.
Parkes, "The Buried Chief": Sir James Martin, born 1820,
Premier and subsequently Chief Justice of New South Wales,
died 4th November, 1886.
Gordon, "A Dedication": The first six stanzas of The Dedication of
"Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes" to the author of "Holmby House"
(Whyte Melville).
Gordon, "Thora's Song": First printed in `The Australasian'
under the title of "Frustra".
Gordon, "The Sick Stock-rider": First appeared in `The Colonial Monthly'
without the final stanza here printed, which was preserved
by Mr. J. J. Shillinglaw.
Kendall, "Prefatory Sonnets": The phrase -- "tormented and awry
with passion" -- also appears in Walter Pater's essay on "Aesthetic Poetry",
which, according to Mr. Ferris Greenslet's monograph on Pater,
was written in 1868, but first published in `Appreciations', 1889.
"Leaves from Australian Forests", in which these sonnets were first printed,
was published in Melbourne in 1869.
Kendall, "To a Mountain": Dedicatory verses of "Songs from the Mountains".
Kendall, "Araluen": The author's daughter, named after a town
in the Shoalhaven District, New South Wales.
Kendall, "Hy-Brasil": Hy-Brasil, or Tir-Nan-Oge, is the fabled
Island of the Blessed, the paradise of ancient Ireland.
Kendall, "Outre Mer": From a poem left unfinished at the author's death.
First printed in "Poems" (1886).
Clarke, "The Song of Tigilau": "Tigilau, the son of Tui Viti";
an attempt to paraphrase a legend of Samoa, is remarkable
as evidence of direct intercourse between Samoa and Fiji,
and as showing by the use of the term "Tui Viti" that a king once reigned
over ALL Fiji. The singularly poetic and rhythmical original
will be found in a paper contributed by Mr. Pritchard, F.A.S.I., etc.,
to the Anthropological Society of London." -- Author's Note.
Moloney, "Melbourne": First printed in `The Australasian'
over the signature "Australis".
Domett, "An Invitation": First printed in "Flotsam and Jetsam": reprinted,
with alterations, as Proem to "Ranolf and Amohia", Second Edition, 1883.
Domett, "A Maori Girl's Song": "A very free paraphrase of a song
in Sir George Grey's collection. `Ropa' is a declaration of love
by pinching the fingers." -- Author's Note.
Stephens, "Day" & "Night": Stanzas from "Convict Once"
[pp. 336-7, 297-9 respectively of "Poetical Works" (1902)].
Foott, "Where the Pelican Builds": "The unexplored parts of Australia
are sometimes spoken of by the bushmen of Western Queensland
as the home of the Pelican, a bird whose nesting-place,
so far as the writer knows, is seldom, if ever, found." -- Author's Note.
Foott, "New Country": `Gidya' -- a Queensland and N.S.W. aboriginal word
for a tree of the acacia species (A. homalophylla).
`Clay-Pan' -- a shallow depression of the ground on Australian plains,
whose thin clayey surface retains water for a considerable time.
Wilson, "Fairyland": `Parson Bird' -- The Tui, or New Zealand mocking bird.
The male has tufts of curled white feathers under the neck,
like a clergyman's bands.
Farrell, "Australia to England": First printed, under the title of
"Ave Imperatrix", in `The Daily Telegraph' (Sydney), on June 22, 1897,
the day of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
F. Adams, "Gordon's Grave": Adam Lindsay Gordon is buried
in Brighton (Victoria) Cemetery. Above the grave is erected
a shattered column crowned with a laurel wreath.
Evans, "A Pastoral": `Apple-tree' -- an indigenous Australian tree,
so called from a supposed resemblance to the English apple-tree,
but bearing no edible fruit.
O'Hara, "Flinders": `Flinders' -- Matthew Flinders first came to Australia
with Bass and Hunter in 1795, and made several heroic voyages
around Australian coasts.
Jephcott, "A Ballad of the last King of Thule": `Mannan' -- the ancient
bardic name of the Isle of Man.
`Eire' -- the ancient name of Ireland.
`The Isle of Apple-trees' -- "Emhain Ablach", the Isle of Arran.
This was the land of faery to the Northern and Western Gaels.
Mackay, "The Burial of Sir John Mackenzie": `Sir John Mackenzie' --
Born 1838; for many years Minister for Lands in New Zealand. Died 1891.
Holy Hill -- Puketapu, a hill sacred to the Maoris on the Otago coast.
Lawson, "Andy's gone with Cattle": `Riders' -- timber used to hold down
the bark roofs of primitive bush houses.
Lawson, "Out Back": `Mulga' -- an aboriginal name given to various trees
of the acacia family (A. aneura).
Lawson, "The Star of Australasia": `Jackeroo' -- a "new chum",
or person recently arrived in Australia, who goes to work on a station
to gain experience.
`Push' -- a gang of larrikins, or city roughs.
Lawson, "Middleton's Rouseabout": `Rouseabout' -- a man who does
general work on a station.
Lawson, "The Vagabond": `Flax' -- a native New Zealand plant
yielding a strong fibre (Phormium tenax, N. O. Liliaceae).
`Tussock' -- a native grass, common in New Zealand (Lomandra longifolia).
R. Quinn, "The Lotus-Flower": `Harbour' -- Sydney Harbour.
Wright, "An Old Colonist's Reverie": `Whare' -- Maori name
for a hut or house.
`Kowhai' -- the Locust tree (yellow Kowhai), and the Parrot-bill
(scarlet Kowhai) -- N.Z. flowering trees.
`Rata' -- a remarkable New Zealand tree with crimson flowers
(Metrosideros robusta), which often starts from a seed
dropped in the fork of a tree, grows downward to the earth,
and, taking root there, winds itself closely round the supporting tree
and eventually destroys it.
Andersen, "Maui Victor": `Maui' -- In Polynesian mythology,
the great hero who attempted to overcome Death, which could only be done
by passing through Hine-nui-te-po (Great Woman of Night).
This Maui attempted to do while she slept. Awakened, however,
by the cry of a black fantail, she nipped Maui in two.
Wilcox, "In London": `Weka' -- Maori name for the wood-hen,
so called from its note "Weeka" (Ocydromus Australis).
`Bell-bird' -- the korimako (Anthornis Melanura).
`Koromiko' -- Veronica salicifolia.
`Manuka' -- the tea-tree (Leptospermum scoparium and L. ericoides).