The New Holland Honeyeater Poem by Francis Duggan

Familiar to the woodland in her coat of dark and gray
And with gold stripes on her tail and wings and her voice a give away
'The new holland honeyeater' for a bird such a strange name
The name given to Australia when the Europeans first came.

The new holland honeyeater is a bird i oft times see
Perched on low branch of wattle or banksia or gum tree
A bird of striking beauty she doesn't have sweet song to sing
But her voice is quite distinctive and it has familiar ring.

She comes into the garden when the banksias are in bloom
And the hoarseness of her chatter floats into the silent room
And the young child run to mother saying the honeyeater's back
I can see her on the banksia in her gold and gray and black

The new holland honeyeater a familiar bird to me
At the fringes of the woodland she is one i oft times see
She is not famed as a songster she doesn't have sweet song to sing
But her voice is quite distinctive and it has familiar ring.