My blog is about life and travels
I’m staying at a place in Port Albert, Victoria, Australia which in the past was an icon and a small town meeting place for locals and visitors.
The place is called Port Albert Racecourse and Reserve and covers an area of over 100 acres, has many grassed areas with lots of shade trees, including large Banksia and Stringy Bark, has all the immenities like toilets, barbecues, picnic tables, even has horse yards and a enclosed exhibition area for horse events, like Camp Drafting.
The actual racecourse (sadly in disrepair) is one of the only sand tracks left in Australia and in the past would hold regular race meets and would be attended by people from as far away as Melbourne.
Now it is used by a few campers and people walking their dogs. Insurance would be the main culprit for stopping events being held here.
A lovely and peaceful place, close by are other small towns and the estuaries of Port Albert, where you can stock up with food and fresh fish.
Having camped here for over a week I have had a full appreciation and imaginary vision of what this place would have been like in its heyday, I sleep peacefully of a night dreaming of the events and good times that our forebears would have experienced.
Hence the verse I wrote about this place.
Port Albert Racecourse Reserve
by
Kevin L Fairbrother
The place is named Port Albert Racecourse Reserve
Established some 100 years back in 1851
Abandoned during tough times in the depression
Restored once again in 1976, reopened in 1980
You can relive the past when this place was alive
Listen and you can hear the ghost of the race caller
Has he described the horses racing to the winning post
and imagine the excitement of the crowd, dressed in their finery
Nestled amongst the Banksia and Stringy Bark trees
With lots of open spaces on fresh mowed grass
You can camp, enjoy a picnic or barbecue
and reflect on whet this reserve was like in the past
Sadly the reserve is a bit run down and
has not seen many events in recent past
But this could all change if you get onboard
and support the commitee to bring back the past
Such a place of rich history deserves to be saved
To be looked after and maintained, not left to die
Port Albert Reserve could once again be an icon of the past
All it takes is imagination, for-sight, people and money
Hope you enjoy
The description of Port Albert made me want to visit. It covered the salient points cleverly and in excellent prose.
I was impressed by the poem, too. There no rules – only excellence – in poetry. That is the goal, anyway. I would like to see the poem broken up into verses. Whenever I change the subject in a poem, I begin a new verse, and wherever there’s a full stop I begin a new verse. I avoid as much punctuation as possible – but that’s just me. Poems can be written with or without verses. It depends on the theme and its treatment.
Your poem is economical and flows nicely.
You are on the way, Kev. Good luck.
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