Bruny Youth Story Prize

Nearipah knowing

On Bruny Island where wild waves roar,
and southern winds sweep sand to shore,
where cliffs stand tall in rugged line
above the restless, foaming brine,
there lives a cockatiel, dark as night,
with silver eyes that flash in light.

They say he came in winter gale,
a shadow bourne on a storms torn trail,
from distant lands of dust and flame,
no cage, no tag, no given name.
feathers black as charred old bark,
a beating ember in the dark.

An Aboriginal bird of sky and lore,
with ancient songs at his very core,
he threads the air with stories old,
of country fierce and country bold.
each note he spills on salted breeze
Moves through the gums and bending trees.

At dawn he wakes the palest day with lifting calls
That drift away, crest raised high in amber glow
As pink light paints the waves below. He greets the sun from branch
To branch above the quiet sheep dotted ranch.

The children pause along the track,
school bags slung upon each back,
For when he sings, the world grows still,
even the sea forgets its will.
The elders nod with knowing eyes,
hearing the truth beneath his cries.

He knows each cove and hidden cave,
where little penguins nest and brave,
the rolling dark of evening tide
that pulls and pushes, deep and wide
he knows the wallabies secret trails,
the scent of rain, the shift of gales.

Through summer heat and winter rain,
he circles sky and scrubby plain,
a guardian slight yet fierce and free,
Bound to land and bound to sea.
And when the moon climbs white and slow,
and silver washes sands below,
He folds his wings shadowed tree,
Keeper of Bruny's memory.

Winners of the Bruny Youth Story Prize will be announced at The Bruny Island Bird Festival on Sunday, the 22nd of March at 12 pm in the Adventure Bay hall. This prize is proudly brought to you by The Bruny Kids and Nature Project, led by Claire Boost and the Tasmanian Community Fund.