The Poetry and Verse of Adam Lindsay Gordon

Adam Lindsay Gordon was born in 1833 and educated in England at Woolwich. The son of an officer in the British Army, it was hoped that he might follow in his footsteps. He emigrated to South Australia where he lost his capital on a sheep farm. He was a noted horseman however and this is reflected in much of his poetry. There is the story of "Gordon's Leap" where he jumped off the edge of the Blue Lake in Mt Gambier and onto a ledge some distance below. I have seen the site and if it really did occur, it was a magnificent feat of horsemanship.

He moved to Melbourne where he continued to write, but his depresssion and melancholy eventually overcame him. He died in 1870 when he shot himself on Brighton Beach the day after his Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes was published.

Index

Comments on the poems and verse appearing here are always appreciated. Why not leave one on the Message Board.