Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.

THE STORY IN THE PAPER

Wild horses facing cull

Wild horses in Kosciuszko National Park could soon be targeted by aerial shooting.

NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe announced the new control measure as part of an amendment to the management plan for the horses, stating that the animals had thrown the park’s “balance” out of whack.

“Over recent years the numbers of horses in the park at Kosciuszko have become unsustainable,” she said on Monday.

“We need to remember that the head of the Murray River starts through those mountains.

“The impact on soil and the impact, particularly on other threatened species within the park, is now coming to the point where the horses could drive them to extinction.”

MY RESPONSE

At first glance this seemed to me to be an innocuous and entirely irrelevant story. It was talking about wild horses in an area known for its ruggedness and isolation at least three or 4000 km away from me. Of what interest could a story like this hold for me as it is right off my radar.

I re-read the story and somehow in the light of history the innocuousness seems to fade from my mind. Fleetingly, I thought about these horses or at least that their predecessors and the place they filled during World War one on overseas missions. I thought about the part that horses played with primary production and agriculture before the advent of tractors.

And then I thought about wild horses and the challenges they face in life and living; no better personified or articulated than in the words of the song Brumby Jack.

Suddenly, the memory of this song and what it meant came flooding back to me. This song was enjoyed by many children in my schools over the years. I taught it to them, we talked about what it all meant, and there was meaning and relevance to the consideration of the issue of wild horses.

Decades later, I occasionally have students who write online (or who remember if I see them) of my teaching them about wild horses through the song “Brumby Jack“.

I have re-produced the words of this song. Unfortunately (or fortunately is the case might be) I can’t sing it to you but it does have a catchy tune and children really loved it.

BRUMBY JACK

See the dust cloud on the plain,

Hear the sound like falling rain,

Flashing hooves and heads held high,

As the wild bush brumbies gallop by.

Chorus*

*Here comes Brumby Jack,

Bringing the horses down the track,

Hear his come as he wheels them around,

He keeps them together safe and sound.

There’s Stumpy, Billy. Silver Dan,

Pickles, Jim and Pelican,

He has a name for everyone,

And when he calls they come at a run.

Chorus

He loves his wild bush friends so well,

Many a farming man can tell,

He’ll never eat or go to bed,

Until he’s sure they’ve all been fed.

Chorus

Froim the mountain side to the distant plain,

Here, there and back again,

They roam the country wild and free,

‘Cause that’s the way they want to be.

Chorus