Gold Galore

• Nathan Reid, Grade 6
• Poetry
• 2007

The word spread around the town
That gold was everywhere in the ground.
So they packed up food and a tent
And off to Ballarat they went.
The road was muddy and wet
Gold, they thought, they would soon get.
Life on the goldfields was loud and tough,
The blokes where hardened and rough.
But the worst were the Joes
No licence, no chance and to jail he goes.
Each month the licence was always three pounds
Even if there was no gold in the ground.
Each day was the same, stuck in a mine
No chance to get out even if the weather was fine.
The mine was cold, damp and dusty,
The air was hard to breathe and terribly musty.
A glint of gold and a yell of delight!
But he lost it all in a fight
Back on the road to Melbourne, worse off than before
No money, no job a goner for sure.