William Ricketts

William Ricketts was a very special man And in his soul the light of goodness shone His carvings of Aboriginals his greatness testify And his memory at Olinda will live on. In Olinda at the Ricketts Sanctuary Along by the gravel paths on either side On trees and stones carvings of the Dreamtime The great man on his great work took great pride. 'Twould seem his ghost still lives around this place A monument to his enduring fame Though he never fathered children that seems sad And none to carry on the Ricketts name. In his Sanctuary he lives for evermore Under simple inscribed slab off of one pathway In plainly written words for all to see The ashes of the famous sculptor lay. He was born a white man with a black man's soul And his bond to Aboriginal culture strong In his World no place for colonial man And to the Dreamtime his carvings belong. In William Ricketts Sanctuary rosellas sing And it is chilly even for July And where the giant mountain ash stand tall The sculptor's memory will never die.