Gustav Weindorfer No. I
There was a man from Austria
Who came to see Australia.
He came by steamer from a town called Genoa
To start a new life in a far off land.
With interest in the native plant.
Field Naturalists, in Melbourne,
Made sure he wasn’t desolate.
He made a new herbarium in 1901.
And walked in the bush towards Mt Buffalo,
Where he met Kate, to be his Tassie wife.
They settled then at Kindred in Tasmania
Where the Dorfer bought a farm.
Kate played the piano and the Dorfer
Sang Carinthian songs.
He gave German lessons and was naturalised.
A bushfire burnt the church
As they were ready to be married.
The wedding guests put out the fire.
They married at her brother’s place
And soon they built a house
And farmed.
But not before a honeymoon
Atop Mt Roland where they stayed in tents,
Collecting plants to press and catalogue.
His parents came from Austria in 1908
and helped with the farm and taught music.
Kate and his parents worked the farm
As Dorfer went exploring in the bush.
He loved the forests of King Billy pines
And birches and all native plants.
But most of all he loved the miner’s cradle,
Cradle Mountain
That reminded him of his native Alps.
The Dorfer then went prospecting to hunt and trap.
In January 1910 they went towards The Cradle
With Ronnie Smith, the later major, of Forth,
And Dr Sutton, whom Dorfer knew
From Melbourne as Field Naturalist,
And Dorfer’s wife, his Kate.
All camped near Cradle Mountain
Where one day, Waldheim would be built.
They climbed the Cradle on the fourth of January.
Kate was the first woman to do this.
The Dorfer saw this paradise,
The Cradle, that God had made
And on the peak he said to Ron,
“This treasure must be everyone’s
For all times and forever.”
The Dorfer had not long to wait.
Soon came the people’s rallying call,
That this must be a nation’s park for all.
It was the Dorfer who had the initial spark
That created Cradle Mountain, National Park.
© Joe Lake
No comments:
Post a Comment