The Little Aussie Battler

Frank Jarvis was lost for nine days in rugged mountain

country around Mudgeeraba in South East Queensland in the year of 1914.

The following is my version of his fight to survive the elements.

This incident is one of the greatest untold survival stories in Australian Bush Folklore.

The Little Aussie Battler

LITTLE FRANKIE LEFT THE HOUSE TO GO AND FETCH A STRAY

WITH SISTER NANCY BY HIS SIDE THEY WANDERED THROUGH THE DAY,

AS DARKNESS FELL THEY SETTLED DOWN TO EERIE SOUNDS OF NIGHT

ON A LOG THEY FELL ASLEEP, NOT KNOWING OF THEIR PLIGHT.

AIMLESSLY THEY WANDERED THROUGH THE FOOTHILLS AND THE SCRUB

WHILE BACK AT MUDGEERABA THE TOWNIES GATHERED AT THE PUB,

THE LIKELIHOOD OF FINDING THEM SEEMED SO FAR AWAY

AS DAY TURNED INTO NIGHT AND NIGHT TURNED INTO DAY.

FIVE DAYS GONE THE SEARCHERS SAW LITTLE NANCY LYING ON THE GROUND

IN JUBILATION OF THEIR FIND THEY HEADED BACK TO TOWN,

LEAVING LITTLE FRANKIE STILL FIGHTING TO SURVIVE

NO ONE NOT EXPECTING, TO FIND HIM STILL ALIVE.

WILD BERRIES AND TOMATOES, HE FOUND A FEW TO EAT

WHY DID HE NOT REMEMBER TO PUT SHOES UPON HIS FEET,

THE DINGOES BAYING IN THE NIGHT PLACED A TOLL UPON HIS MIND

THE TOWNSFOLK KEPT ON SEARCHING, LITTLE FRANKIE NO ONE COULD FIND.

THE WILDERNESS WAS FRIGHTENING FOR A BOY OF ONLY FOUR

IF ONLY HE COULD FIND HIS HOME AND OPEN UP THE DOOR,

BUT NOWHERE IN THOSE MOUNTAINS COULD HE FIND THE PATH

THAT WOULD LEAD HIM FROM THIS HELL INTO HIS MOTHERS GRASP.

AFTER NINE DAYS IN THE WILD LITTLE FRANKIE MADE IT OUT

ON A RAILWAY TRACK HE HAD LAY HIS HEAD WHEN HE HEARD THEM SHOUT,

“HE’S ALIVE!” THEY CRIED, “HE’S MADE IT BACK”, THEY TOOK HIM INTO TOWN

THE LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLER AT LAST HE HAD BEEN FOUND.

ON THAT NIGHT A TRAIN WAS DUE ALONG THE RAILROAD TRACK

LITTLE FRANKIE'S STRUGGLE COULD HAVE ENDED WITH HIS NAP,

IF THOSE SEARCHERS HAD NOT TAKEN A SHORTCUT INTO TOWN

FRANKIE MAY HAVE NEVER... MADE ANOTHER SOUND.

FAR INTO THE NIGHT, THEY PARTIED ONE AND ALL

THEY HAD A GOOD REASON, GOD HAD ANSWERED THEIR CALL,

TO GIVE LITTLE FRANKIE THE STRENGTH TO SURVIVE

AND TO SEND THE LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLER, BACK HOME TO THEM ALIVE.

DARRELL B. PARKER

THE BUSH POET OF KALANGADOO

1996