Wellington NSW

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After spending a week with my elderly parents in Wellington NSW, helping out around the house and yard, it was time to hit the road again with our caravan. I have included a photo of The Blacksmith Shop, where my grandfather, father and uncles plied their “Smithy” trade, located next to our family home in Wellington.

I have previously mentioned about researching our family history this past year, and that research has revealed that my great great grandfather, Charles Cullen, and his brother Daniel Cullen, Blacksmiths by trade, left Ireland and embarked on their voyage to a new land (Australia) in the 1850’s. Charles sailed from Ireland on the “Agincourt” in 1852 with his young wife, Mary, and Daniel sailed on the “Daniel McIvor” in 1856.

I searched for a suitable Blacksmith poem to include in my blog, however, I could only find a poem by some “unknown writer” by the name of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, entitled “The Village Blacksmith". After reading Longfellow’s poem, I decided to pen my own poem, entitled “The Blacksmith”.




The Blacksmith - by James Cullen

The fire catches on the slivers of pine

As the bellows are pumped, the flames entwine

The heat from the forge beckons the steel

As it glows red hot the metal yields

To the blows of the hammer, the sparks they fly

The Smithy wipes the sweat and begins to sigh



He casts his mind back to the Emerald Isle

And the long voyage they took brings back a smile

The famine, the heartache they left behind

This bright new land has been very kind

To a brash Irish lad and his pretty Colleen

A prime plot of land without any lien



But time marches on and the arms, no longer strong

Sulkies and carts, they don’t belong

In a world where the motor car rules the road

And Iron Horses carry their enormous load

On tracks of forged steel over plain and hill

The Cobb and Co coaches have had their fill



The Smithy’s body is now broken and spent

The swings of his hammer hardly making a dent

In the hot fiery iron, the sparks barely fly

Back in the forge for one more try

The anvil ever ready to receive the red metal

My trusty friend, it’s near time to settle

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