Manfred Vijars
Winner, Australian Bush Laureate "Golden Gumleaf" Award for Bush Poetry, three Golden Guitars for songwriting, two Tamworth Songwriters Awards for lyrics are amongst various awards for writing as well as performing Bush Poetry.
An avid reader of Australian classical verse from school, Manfred was introduced to Bush Poetry at North Pine in 2005 and been has writing and performing ever since. He performs and holds workshops in Bush Poetry at schools, both primary and secondary. He also holds adult writing workshops, helping aspiring writers transition from “Bush Poetry to Bush Ballads". Manfred is still actively involved in serving the wider Bush Poetry community serving on various committees. He has served as president of North Pine, and also, four years as president of the Australian Bush Poets Association (ABPA).
Manfred may be seen performing at various events and festivals in the Eastern States. He has three CDs of original works and his latest recorded works, "Homage to Henry" is on on USB. This album contains 34 tracks from the writings of Henry Lawson, a chronological journey spanning 41 years of Henry's life from 1888 to 1919.
Area:
- Brisbane
- South East Qld
- Regional Qld
- North Qld
Years Performing:
20+ years
Entertainment Style:
- Humorous
- Serious
- Traditional Bush Poetry
- Other
Merchandise:
USB album, "Homage to Henry", CD Albums: "Just Call me Mate", "Bargo Bargo" and "Wollomi"
Poets/Writers Work
Pennefather River: Discovery and Exploration of Australia beginning at the Pennefather River
Many are of the opinion that Captain Cook was the first European who 'discovered' Australia - Not so ... The Pennefather River was the site of the first recorded European landfall in Australia by Willem Janszoon(Jasz) on the 26th February 1606. Janszoon named it, "R. met het Bosch" - "River with the Bush"
The captain and crew of the Duyfken found that this country had already been 'discovered' and was inhabited. Encountering hostility from the indigenous people, Jansz lost ten of his crew during visits to the shore. He was uncomplimentary of the land, finding it swampy, but still charted 320 kilometres of the shore before returning to the Netherlands. However, he was of the opinion that his landing point was part of New Guinea, and Dutch maps reflected this error for many years.
This piece of poetry looks at our journey since then ...
