Memories of an old bush School and a Teacher Mister Swain,
Inspired me to take a trip, A trip, down Memory Lane.
So I journeyed back to Tallong, where the air is fresh and free
Where lots of childhood memories, came flowing back to me.

I visualised an old tin shack, that once was my abode.
Near Long Point Lookout Junction, along the Marulan Road.
The house of corragated iron no longer could be found,
Twas just a clump of bushy trees where once it held its ground.

The Road that I was driving on, was once a pot holed track
Iced filled during winter, as we walked to School and back.
We dare not take a short cut through Watlings apple trees,
nor pick a juicy apple, Cause Nat would not be pleased.

I guess my fondest memory, is the one room Public School
Where there was only Mister Swain, to teach the golden rule.
I still recall the clatter, of a school of marching feet
as we marched into the classroom, to The Colonel Bogie beat.

Powered milk for play lunch, or cocoa for a spell
But only when we mixed it up, and we had to mix it well.
For sport we played athletics, or at least we had a go,
But the only School we sometimes beat was our neighbors Wingello.

I sadly still remember the Rumsey fatal day,
How Bruce, his Dad, his Uncle and Brother passed away.
I remember Marg and Helen Read, Kim Kirk was there I'm sure
But at the age of Fifty Two, I can't recall much more.

I left those thoughts behind me and moved on down the road.
To where I used to eel and camp, where Barbers creek once flowed.
I drove down to the railway bridge, The arches made of brick
and stopped beside a blackberry that was growing strong and thick.

I visited the Graveyard and said a silent prayer,
for the Rumseys and the Davenports and others resting there.
I drove to Long Point lookout, to the misty Mountain hue,
The Shoalhaven at the bottom, of this panoramic view.

In the picnic hut I rested and poured a cup of tea,
I gazed up to the ceiling at the many names to see.
And there amoung the many,that were listed up above,
I found the names of Mum and Dad, when first they pledged their love.

I shed a tear of happiness, and a little sadness too.
As I leave Tallong behind me, my reminicing through,
But before my life is over, or my memory starts to wane
I'll journey back to Tallong, on a trip down memory lane.

Copyright © M C Lyons