Ballarat. Victoria. In the Botanic Gardens is the cottage occupied by Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon from 1867 to 1868. Moved to this site in 1934.
Adam Lindsay Gordon 1833 - 1870.
This great poet, recognised as one of Australia’s greatest, was born in the Azores to English parents in 1833. But by the time he was twenty his father was exasperated with Adam’s hedonistic lifestyle which was frowned upon in Victorian England. Adam Gordon senior secured a position for young Adam with the SA government and Adan Lindsay Gordon arrived at Port Adelaide in 1853. Adam was tall, handsome, moody, and reckless but an excellent horseman and rider. He was appointed as a police trooper at Penola for two years and then from 1855 he broke horses around the Mt Gambier district with some financial backing from this father. In 1857 Adam met Father Tenison Woods and began reading poetry with him. When his mother died in 1859 he received a legacy of £7,000 which he received in 1861. Although profligate with his money he was comfortable with his winnings from steeple chases and horse breaking of thoroughbreds. In 1862 he married Margaret Park a girl of 17 years who was also an excellent horsewoman. So in 1864 he bought Dingley Dell cottage for their home. The cottage was located at Port MacDonnell where he had lived and when the ship the Admella sank at Cape Northumberland in 1859 with the loss of 89 lives Adam was deeply affected by it. In 1869 he wrote a poem about it entitled the Ride from the Wreck. Around 1864 Adam speculated with land investments that failed and this seemed to increase his reckless horse riding exploits. His famous leap over the edge of the Blue Lake at Mt Gambier occurred in July 1864. The monument to this daring feat was erected on that spot in 1887. In January 1865 he was elected to the SA parliament whilst he kept publishing poems and some stories. He became a good friend of John Riddoch of Yallum Park near Penola once he attended parliament. His time in parliament provoked him into more poetry publishing, horse riding and racing and land speculation in Western Australia as well as South Australia. In 1867 he moved to a residence in Mt Gambier for a short time. He published several poems that year and then moved to Ballarat. He rented Craig’s hotel livery stables but his idealism and lack of business acumen soon delivered financial failure. His pretty little Ballarat Cottage is now located in the Ballarat Botanic Gardens. He left Ballarat at the end of 1868 and moved to Melbourne. He continued racing horses and in 1870 had a serious fall whilst racing at Flemington race course. He never fully recovered but managed to publish two works in mid-1870 Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes. When he got the account for publishing the two books he realised he had insufficient money to pay the publishers and he took his own life in June 1870. Although the newspapers speculated he was an alcoholic his friends were all adamant that he seldom drank but he was subject to depression and melancholy. He was buried in the Brighton cemetery in Melbourne and his friends erected a monument on his grave in October 1870. Sadly his prowess as a poet was mainly recognised after his death. In 1932 a statue of him was erected near Parliament House in Melbourne. In 1934 a bust of Adam Lindsay Gordon was placed in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey the Australian poet to have such recognition. British composer Edward Elgar set several of Adam’s poem to music, Queen Elizabeth II quoted lines from one of his poems in her 1992 Christmas broadcast and Australian Post released a stamp honouring Adam Lindsay Gordon in 1970. In 2014 he was inducted into the Australia Jumps Racing Association Gallery of Champions. On his statue in Melbourne are four of his lines:
Life is mainly froth and bubble
Two things stand like stone —
Kindness in another's trouble.
Courage in your own.
Below are some lines from the Ride from the Wreck (of the Admella.)
Look sharp. A large vessel lies jamm’d on the reef,
And many on board still, and some wash’d on shore.
Ride straight with the news—they may send some relief
From the township; and we—we can do little more.
You, Alec, you know the near cuts; you can cross
"The Sugarloaf" ford with a scramble, I think;
Don’t spare the blood filly, nor yet the black horse;
Should the wind rise, God help them! the ship will soon sink.
Old Peter’s away down the paddock, to drive
The nags to the stockyard as fast as he can—
A life and death matter; so, lads, look alive.’
Ballarat. Victoria. In the Botanic Gardens is the cottage occupied by Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gordon from 1867 to 1868. Moved to this site in 1934.
Adam Lindsay Gordon 1833 - 1870.
This great poet, recognised as one of Australia’s greatest, was born in the Azores to English parents in 1833. But by the time he was twenty his father was exasperated with Adam’s hedonistic lifestyle which was frowned upon in Victorian England. Adam Gordon senior secured a position for young Adam with the SA government and Adan Lindsay Gordon arrived at Port Adelaide in 1853. Adam was tall, handsome, moody, and reckless but an excellent horseman and rider. He was appointed as a police trooper at Penola for two years and then from 1855 he broke horses around the Mt Gambier district with some financial backing from this father. In 1857 Adam met Father Tenison Woods and began reading poetry with him. When his mother died in 1859 he received a legacy of £7,000 which he received in 1861. Although profligate with his money he was comfortable with his winnings from steeple chases and horse breaking of thoroughbreds. In 1862 he married Margaret Park a girl of 17 years who was also an excellent horsewoman. So in 1864 he bought Dingley Dell cottage for their home. The cottage was located at Port MacDonnell where he had lived and when the ship the Admella sank at Cape Northumberland in 1859 with the loss of 89 lives Adam was deeply affected by it. In 1869 he wrote a poem about it entitled the Ride from the Wreck. Around 1864 Adam speculated with land investments that failed and this seemed to increase his reckless horse riding exploits. His famous leap over the edge of the Blue Lake at Mt Gambier occurred in July 1864. The monument to this daring feat was erected on that spot in 1887. In January 1865 he was elected to the SA parliament whilst he kept publishing poems and some stories. He became a good friend of John Riddoch of Yallum Park near Penola once he attended parliament. His time in parliament provoked him into more poetry publishing, horse riding and racing and land speculation in Western Australia as well as South Australia. In 1867 he moved to a residence in Mt Gambier for a short time. He published several poems that year and then moved to Ballarat. He rented Craig’s hotel livery stables but his idealism and lack of business acumen soon delivered financial failure. His pretty little Ballarat Cottage is now located in the Ballarat Botanic Gardens. He left Ballarat at the end of 1868 and moved to Melbourne. He continued racing horses and in 1870 had a serious fall whilst racing at Flemington race course. He never fully recovered but managed to publish two works in mid-1870 Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes. When he got the account for publishing the two books he realised he had insufficient money to pay the publishers and he took his own life in June 1870. Although the newspapers speculated he was an alcoholic his friends were all adamant that he seldom drank but he was subject to depression and melancholy. He was buried in the Brighton cemetery in Melbourne and his friends erected a monument on his grave in October 1870. Sadly his prowess as a poet was mainly recognised after his death. In 1932 a statue of him was erected near Parliament House in Melbourne. In 1934 a bust of Adam Lindsay Gordon was placed in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey the Australian poet to have such recognition. British composer Edward Elgar set several of Adam’s poem to music, Queen Elizabeth II quoted lines from one of his poems in her 1992 Christmas broadcast and Australian Post released a stamp honouring Adam Lindsay Gordon in 1970. In 2014 he was inducted into the Australia Jumps Racing Association Gallery of Champions. On his statue in Melbourne are four of his lines:
Life is mainly froth and bubble
Two things stand like stone —
Kindness in another's trouble.
Courage in your own.
Below are some lines from the Ride from the Wreck (of the Admella.)
Look sharp. A large vessel lies jamm’d on the reef,
And many on board still, and some wash’d on shore.
Ride straight with the news—they may send some relief
From the township; and we—we can do little more.
You, Alec, you know the near cuts; you can cross
"The Sugarloaf" ford with a scramble, I think;
Don’t spare the blood filly, nor yet the black horse;
Should the wind rise, God help them! the ship will soon sink.
Old Peter’s away down the paddock, to drive
The nags to the stockyard as fast as he can—
A life and death matter; so, lads, look alive.’