Category: Haiku History in Australia

History of Haiku in Australia

A History of Haiku in Australia, written by Beverley George and Lyn Reeeves. The file is available for download in PDF here.

A HISTORY OF HAIKU IN AUST -June16 2016

History of Haiku in Australia: Collected Work by Australian Poets

This history was first displayed on The Haiku Foundation which also contains histories and samples of  other countries’ haiku:   The Haiku Foundation: World of Haiku

Rob Scott’s thesis on Australian Haiku on THF website

Rob Scott’s Masters thesis, “The History of Australian Haiku and the Emergence of a Local Accent” has been archived (in full) on The Haiku Foundation website, after being spotlighted there – in Garry Eaton’s ‘Librarian’s Cache’ feature – earlier in this month of April: it can viewed through this link –

http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/2016/04/06/librarians-cache-rob-scotts-history-of-australian-haiku/

An extract from this work – under the title “Australian Haiku in the Global Context” – had been published as a feature in “A Hundred Gourds” 4:1 December 2014:

http://ahundredgourds.com/ahg41/index_feature.html

As the Managing Editor for “A Hundred Gourds” – Lorin Ford – notes, “It’s an important piece, quoting many haiku by Australians.”

Haiku in Australia 2010

Now seems like a good time to report briefly on the state of haiku in Australia. There is much to say that is positive.

The Australian Haiku Society (HaikuOz) is web-based and made up of many components. Its leadership comprises a patron, president, secretary, web manager and a small committee. Most input to the site comes from the leaders of the various small Australian haiku groups and from outside sources who send news of publication and competition opportunities.

Haiku groups
As in Japan, small groups are at the heart and soul of Australian haiku writing. These are poems of observation, so it is fitting the groups are regionally based, allowing members to share urban or rural landscape.

These groups include Cloudcatchers (Northern NSW, led by Quendryth Young); Bindii Haiku Group (Adelaide, led by Lynette Arden); Mari Warabiny (Perth, led by Maureeen Sexton) Red Dragonflies (Sydney, led by Vanessa Proctor); Watersmeet (Hobart, led by Lyn Reeves) and Ozku (Sydney, led by Dawn Bruce.) The ‘paper wasp’ group (Brisbane led by Katherine Samuelowicz) is currently not meeting regularly but it is hoped that this will resume soon. It is not unusual for groups to go a little quiet and then reinvent themselves.
In Melbourne, Myron Lysenko conducts haiku walks ‘Ginko with Lysenko’ four times a year.

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the 4th Haiku Pacific Rim Conference Terrigal, September 2009

A report of the 4th Haiku Pacific Rim Conference for Five Bells Vol 17 Nos 1&2, 2010 by convenor, Beverley George

together . . .
the way wind moves
over water
Vanessa Proctor

One of the features that distinguishes haiku from some other poetic genres is its sociable nature, which often includes the sharing of its creation, and interactive linking. Originally the starting verse (hokku) of renga, a writing game, established time, place and season. This opening poem was given individual status by Bashō in the 17th century and renamed haiku by Shiki and friends around 1900. Haiku are often written on a communal walk (ginko) and pasted up for anonymous peer-judging (kukai).

Continue reading “the 4th Haiku Pacific Rim Conference Terrigal, September 2009”