Bush poet pens fifth winner

A NORTH Queensland bush poet has added another national prize to her trophy cupboard after winning the Boree Log Award for the fifth time.

Bush poet Brenda Joy Pritchard’s latest entry, Outreaching Still, was written on the banks of the Georgina River near Camooweal.

Brenda said the poem, which earned her the top prize at the Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Annual Literary Awards, was based on a true life story pertinent to Queensland.

“It is based on the story of Leigh Lawrence,” Brenda said.

“When you sit by the Georgina River in Camooweal waiting for the commencement of the Drover’s Camp Festival, a man who is a selfappointed lay preacher wanders the riverbank, freely offering fellowship to the many travellers who congregate around individual or group campfires.

“His daily appearance generates sharing of gospel messages, hymns, real life storytelling and general camaraderie.

“Leigh Lawrence is just one of the many modern day itinerant characters whose outpourings reverberate with the spirit of Australiana.”

In February this year Brenda won the Kembla Flame award, and since then has picked up the Tom Black Memorial Award for her poem Ghost Child at the Eyre Writers in Port Lincoln, South Australia.

She won the open poetry section of the Laura Literary Awards, also in South Australia, with her poem Secrets of the Desert.