"Mendooran on the Castlereagh.."

"Mendooran on the Castlereagh.."
- with a couple o’ hundred folk -
“has the best school” I’d like to say
(& says “more than one” other bloke).

It’s got a Pub to boast, as well
a General Store, & Farmer’s Hub,
Commun’ty Centre, R.S.L.,
Cemet'ry, & a ‘Bolo’ club.

It used to be called “Mundooran”
but then the railway line came in
& called their station “Mendooran”,
& finally the town gave in...

The Castlereagh don’t run too much,
but in the old times, Mundoo ran
away from white “spirits and such”
(he was head of the local clan).

Australia’s Postal service,
celebrated by “Banjo”,
might here¹ still make ya nervous
if you don’t know “What’s the go”.

Free car’van park - (jus’ for wishin’).
Two bridges, one river, one creek.
Heaps o’ carp to practice fishin’,
enough to keep ya here all week.

Some churches, from the olden days.
A P’lice station to quiet the frays,
a friendly copper says “G’day”s,
and after work folk chat & laze..

And what do folk do e’v’where-else?
Most mobile phones don’t work - just here.
So these folk talk, (whisper, or yell),
get to know you, shed smiles & tears.

And so by bits, you feel like you
start to get to know them too.
‘til you forget, and feel that you
are “quite home” here, near Dunedoo.
 
(June/July 2012, Mendooran Central School)

1 THE TRAVELLING POST OFFICE by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson  http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/patersonab/poetry/travellingpo.html