Cnr of Park Rd and MacMahon St, Hurstville Sundays at 9:30 am and 6:30 pm
Banjo Paterson’s famous poem, The Man from Snowy River, which is celebrated on the obverse of the Australian ten dollar note, just cost me 50 dollars. One of my sons rose to the challenge of reciting it from memory, all 104 lines, word perfect. He delivered, and I paid up. Actually I was glad that he had done something memorable, and I was glad to part with my investment.
The poem tells the story of a valuable horse that had run away, and how all the brave riders in the district mustered to retrieve it. But one young rider who had arrived to join the fray was deemed by the others to be not up to the task. “Lad, you’d better stop away; those hills are far too rough for such as you.” But the lad proved more than a match for both the landscape and the pursuit.
A greater Poem tells the story of a more dangerous ride that was undertaken to rescue something of value that had got away, and there were many in that story who doubted that the Man from the hills of Galilee was up to it. “He had no beauty to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected.” But He proved them wrong, and after being ‘blood from hip to shoulder from the spur’, returned with the prize. And those who remember His deed and share in His triumph, just love to tell the story of His ride.
DM 22nd June 2020