An error has occurred while processing this page. The site administrator has been notified. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Lot 47
Description:
A unique handwritten copy by Les Murray
-
Exhibited:
- 2422 Literature:
- Collectibles Medium:
- Books, Maps & Manuscripts Circa:
- Poetry Books Notes:
- Australias recent Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry was particularly scathing of the conduct of Australias big four banks. In the unseemly pursuit of profits at any cost each bank had its own take on worlds worst banking practices which were expertly designed to swindle their customers and so protect their proud records of perpetual growth. Of course, the jockeying for position in a four-horse group one race was always bound to lead to unconscionable conduct when the announcement of each years record profits also fattened the pay-packets of senior bank management. When the last bank shuts up shop it usually sounds the death knell for a country town but, of course this holds little concern for the city-slickers of senior bank management looking solely for fiscal returns. So, while the social fabric of Australia was being torn up chasing bare-faced profits everyone, except the government regulators, had some experience of the banks malfeasance as they pared back once fundamental banking services while quietly slipping in user pays for what little remained. These days you spend more time going around in circles communicating with a virtual assistant who has largely replaced the human interface. Good luck finding a teller even if you are fortunate enough to locate a bank branch in what now passes as the modern banking world. Australia supposedly dodged a bullet during the Global Financial Crisis, when its private banks were saved from a run by an Australian Government Deposit Guarantee. This was effectively underwritten by all Australians, so it was particularly galling that in gratitude the banks paid us back in spades by charging heavy-handed fees and commissions which the Royal Commission revealed were laid on to all and sundry, but especially the vulnerable and on occasions the dead. This month Smalls Auctions offers a unique handwritten and signed poem titled the Rollovers by Les Murray Australias unofficial Poet Laureate. His prescient bush ballad was written in the 90s and glimpsed what was to come. It turns the tables on the bankers by reimagining the not unfamiliar plight of an Australian farmer being marched off his farm by the sheriffs stealing his livelihood for the shylocks. It reads: Some of us primary producers, us farmers and authors are going round to watch them evict a banker. Itll be sad. I hate it when the toddlers and wives are out beside the fence, crying, and the big kids wear that thousand-yard stare common in all refugees. Seeing home desecrated as you lose it can do that to you. Theres the ute piled high with clothes and old debentures. Theres the faithful VDU, shot dead, still on its lead. This fellows dad and grandad were bankers before him, they sweated through the old hard inspections, had years of brimming foreclosure, but here it all ends. Hed lent three quarters and only asked for a short extension. Six months. But you have to Line the drawers somewhere. You have to be kind to be cruel. Its Sydney or the cash these times. Who buys the Legend of the Bank any more? The laconic teller, the salt-of-the-earth branch accountant its all an Owned Boys story. Now they reckon hes grabbed a gun and an old coin sieve and holed up in the vault, screaming about his years of work, his identity. Queer talk from a bank-johnny! We're catching flak, too, from a mob of his mates, inbred under-manager types, here to back him up. Troublemakers, land-despoiling white trash. Itll do them no good. Their turn is coming. Theyll be rationalised themselves, made adapt to a multinational society. Theres no room in that for privileged traditional ways of life. No land rights for bankers. A humbling offering which probably belongs on the office wall of one of Australias Banking CEOs.
Accepted Forms of Payment:
American Express, MasterCard, Money Order / Cashiers Check, Other, Paypal, Visa, Wire Transfer
Shipping
AUSTRALIA: Purchases within Australia will be charged a MINIMUM SHIPPING FEE of $5.50 and will be sent by Registered Post. Additional insurance is optional at the buyer's expense.
INTERNATIONAL: Overseas purchases will be charged a MINIMUM SHIPPING FEE of $20.00 and will be sent by Registered Post International. Additional insurance is optional at the buyer's expense.
Both Australian and International packages are traceable in transit and require a signature on delivery.
1 October 2023 12:00 AEDT
Sydney, Australia
Smalls Auctions
You agree to pay a buyer's premium of up to 20% and any applicable taxes and shipping.
View full terms and conditions
Bid Increments
| From: | To: | Increments: |
|---|---|---|
| A$0 | A$249 | A$5 |
| A$250 | A$999 | A$10 |
| A$1,000 | A$4,999 | A$25 |
| A$5,000 | A$9,999 | A$50 |
| A$10,000 + | A$100 |