ALLAN Childs is a walking encyclopedia on Adam Lindsay Gordon – the acclaimed poet and champion horse rider who lived for a time in a small cottage at Dingley Dell.
Perhaps most famously known to Mount Gambier residents as the man who jumped the Blue Lake fence on horseback, Mr Childs admits he had never heard of Gordon before taking over as caretaker at the cottage in the late ’90s.
“I knew nothing at all about Gordon – the former caretaker wanted a hand to do the garden, so my wife Jenny and I stepped in,” Mr Childs told The Border Watch during a tour at Dingley Dell last week.
“I had to be able to talk to people while they looked through the cottage, so I did my research.
“My grandchildren helped me to get started on the computer and once I started exploring the internet I could not stop.”
Mr Childs is president of the Adam Lindsay Gordon Commemorative Committee, a nation-wide network of dedicated Gordon enthusiasts who aim to collate material on his life and works and “make it available to researchers and admirers alike”.
His work with the committee and at Gordon’s former dwellings has turned Mr Childs into a passionate historian.
“In the last few months we have proved beyond doubt that Gordon tried to rescue passengers from the wreck of the Admella,” he said.
“I have been here 21 years and we have only just now proved it – we could not find the documentation on it until now.
“I’m like a little fox terrier pup chasing its bone – I love to get a story and follow it right through.”
The legend of the leap at the Blue Lake is one of Mr Childs’ favourite stories to tell and he was only too happy to launch into the tale when speaking to The Border Watch.
“The leap over the fence was for a dare – Gordon and all the boys had been to Port MacDonnell and were on their way back into Mount Gambier,” he said.
“It was four o’clock in the afternoon and they had all had a drink at The Bellum.
“No one believed he would do it, but Gordon spurred his horse on and jumped over the fence and landed on a very narrow ledge.
“From where they were watching it looked like he was going to plunge into the lake.”
Adam Lindsay Gordon arrived in Adelaide shortly after his 20th birthday and within two weeks he had joined the mounted police and was stationed in Mount Gambier and Penola.
After two years of service, he resigned to live as a wandering stock rider and horse breaker and became the most famous steeplechaser Australia has ever known.
He married Maggie Park from Robe and bought all 101 acres at Dingley Dell for 150 pounds.
Gordon represented the seat of Mount Gambier in parliament for one year and his enduring poetry has earned him the title of Australia’s National Poet.
“His work is iconic and paints a picture of life in Australia during the 1800s – I love reciting his poems,” Mr Childs said.
“He was also so well known in riding circles – he won three famous steeples in Melbourne in one day and he was almost blind at the time.
“Two years before his death he had a bad fall and he was unconscious for 10 days – when he woke up the doctors told him his only daughter had died of convulsions and that hit him real hard.
“He was very depressed in the last 12 months before he died and he shot himself near Melbourne in 1870.”
Following his tragic death, the cottage at Dingley Dell was opened to the public in 1920 after years of neglect.
“When Gordon’s wife left here it was abandoned for years – people used to let sheep in the kitchen, which ruined the floor and the passage,” Mr Childs said.
“When we arrived the paint was peeling and the floor was no good, so we restored the place in 2000 and collected all the original furniture.
“Some of the floor boards are original and every piece of furniture tells a story – there is so much to absorb here.”
Mr Childs said he would continue to maintain the property for the foreseeable future.
“I’m always learning more and I love to share what I learn with visitors and with the committee,” he said.
“After I knock off and watch the nightly news, I do more research.”
