South of my days' circle

March is Women’s History Month. Capital history here is celebrating the month by highlighting capital women — women whose stories are part of Canberra’s history.

Judith Wright (1915-2000) was a leading poet as well as a pioneering environmentalist and Aboriginal land rights activist. In 1975 Judith moved to a home near Braidwood. At this time, she was advising the Whitlam Government on conservation issues and founded the Aboriginal Treaty Committee, which advocated for a legally recognized treaty to enable land rights claims. Her final three years were spent in Canberra, where she died on 25 June 2000. A mere week before her death she was marching with others in Canberra committed to Reconciliation.

Judith Wright was a wonderful poet. I love many of her poems but South of My Days is a particular favourite. This is the last stanza.

Oh, they slide and they vanish
as he shuffles the years like a pack of conjuror's cards.
True or not, it's all the same; and the frost on the roof
cracks like a whip, and the back-log break into ash.
Wake, old man. This is winter, and the yarns are over.
No-one is listening
South of my days' circle
I know it dark against the stars, the high lean country
full of old stories that still go walking in my sleep.
— Judith Wright, South Of My Days

Acknowledgement: Photo by Taylor Durrer on Unsplash.

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