A Good Prospect - The life and works of F.W. Ophel "Prospect Good."
Compiled and edited by Chris Holyday.
ISBN 978-0-85905-513-0, (New, 2012), A4, illustrated, 72pp, 225grams
$25.00* + POST
Frederick Ophel (1871- 1911) was considered the best and brightest of the Goldfields poets a century ago. However his work has never been published as a collection. A.G. Stephens of the Bulletin collected his works and letters but twice lost the papers and eventually economics signed the death knell.
He lies here. See the bush
All grey through grief for him
Hoar scrub - like ashes cast -
Sprinkles the valley grim.
This epitaph for a lone prospector could be one for our society.
It is fundamental to this publishers policy that these brilliant gems of our culture should be unearthed and displayed. Newspapers such as the Kalgoorlie Sun were the gemcutters of the day. But now they are reduced to a single copy in the archives, looted by marauding journalists to fill their reminiscences.
The current rags that dominate the print world are not fit for bin liners. However they work effectively as mind liners, keeping people from a true knowledge of the world. They are a no-mans-land colonised by the pubic lice of the underworld.