Colonial newspapers such as The
Moreton Bay Courier relied on local correspondents for reports from the
various districts. One such correspondent from Ipswich is recognisable for his
florid writing style in which he shows off his obvious classical education.
He peppers his prose with allusions to Greek
and Roman mythology, Christian hagiography, as well as history and literature.
 |
| Idealised 18th Century View of a Shepherdess (Shepherd piping to a Shepherdess, Francois, Boucher c.1747-50) |
In 1846, the Ipswich correspondent submitted a piece entitled “Love in
the Bush” regarding an attempted elopement from a sheep station, transforming a
rather mundane story into a bucolic tale of unrequited love.
No names are mentioned. Even the location is vaguely given.[1]
We have been informed that the blind god[2]
has been making great havoc, lately on Darling Downs, and that a sad
misadventure has befallen an ancient and respectable shepherd in that district.
A knight of St. Crispin[3]
has made free with one of the gentle shepherdesses, residing not a hundred
miles from Jimba, and succeeded in inducing her to lay aside the crook to
assume the zone of Venus[4].
 |
| The Moreton Bay Courier Saturday 5 September 1846 |
Though exceeding by some years the respectable age of
forty, love still throbbed in the bosom of our hero, and he wooed and won the
fascinating damsel, whose charms penetrated his double-breasted waistcoat, and
captured with sweet agony his yielding affections.
The interesting fair one, be it known, possesses
artificial, as well as natural attractions, and is a lady not only
well-looking, but heiress to a fine flock of ewes, which she has been in the
habit of tending for the last two years with assiduous care, which circumstance
could not escape the observation of our Lothario, who, it may be accounted,
therefore, not only loved well, but, (as the world goes) wisely.
 |
| Shepherdess with her Flock (Jean-Francois Millet 19th Century) |
Horses having been provided, the happy pair were
proceeding to our far-famed township, when their absence became known to the
lady's relations; instant pursuit was resolved on, and the following day, the
lady and her lover were discovered by the pursuers seated tete-a-tete[5]
under a gum-tree, enjoying a comfortable pot of the best bohea[6],
and damper.
On the appearance of the enraged parent and his
assistants, who, by the bye, were armed to the teeth - consternation seized the
amorous swain-love absconded - and he fled ingloriously, leaving the luckless
dulcinea[7]
in the hands of the captors.
©
K. C. Sbeghen, 2012.
[1] The
Moreton Bay Courier Saturday 5 September 1846
[2]
Cupid i.e. “love is blind.”
[3]
Saint Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers and leather workers.
[4]
Roman goddess of love.
[5]
Face to face (French)
[6]
Bohea tea. The name given in the
beginning of the 18th c. to the finest kinds of black tea from China.(OED)
[7] The
name given by Don Quixote to his mistress in Cervantes' romance; hence, A
mistress, sweetheart, lady of one's devotion.(OED)
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