The 8th Gadigal Ginko took place on Wednesday 26th February 2025, with five participants. First-timers Julie Thorndyke and Anita Xian joined two regulars, Carol Reynolds and Margaret Mahony, and convenor, Leanne Mumford. We travelled by ferry from Circular Quay westward under the Harbour Bridge to Wareamah – Cockatoo Island. Thanks to its varied history, this island, located where the Parramatta River meets Sydney Harbour, has much to offer poets.
Equipped with maps from the Visitor Centre, we dispersed for an hour’s ginko. Reconvening at a shaded picnic table, everyone shared their impressions. We tried to imagine Wareamah before colonisation, before its sandstone was quarried and tunnelled through. Many of the draft poems were inspired by the remnants of the island’s convict and ship-building past – the now silent and decaying buildings, machinery and tunnels.
Views across the shimmering harbour and prominent trees also sparked poems. The island has long-since ceased to be a place of industry, and the relative quiet of the weekday morning was noticeable. This produced several aural images from the natural environment – calls of silver gulls, a leaf falling…
Discussion turned to some key points for effective haiku, such as showing through sense-based images rather than telling with abstract ideas, using a fragment and phrase structure for a smooth flow, and having a sharp focus by juxtaposing or contrasting just a couple of elements. With an accomplished tanka poet among us, we also considered how some of us are much more drawn to one form than the other.
Then it was time to head home or seek lunch at the café near the wharf. With only a fraction of the island’s rich offerings explored, we all agreed it is a destination worthy of further visits.
Leanne Mumford
Convenor, Gadigal Ginko
Australian Haiku Society 