Haiku at arboretum

Pearl Beach Crommelin Native Arboretum played host to 57 haiku writers from across the world for the fourth annual Haiku Pacific Rim Conference on September 25.

Event convenor and president of the Australian Haiku Society Ms Beverley George of Pearl Beach said it was great to have the opportunity to showcase the local region to haiku writers from seven different countries for the first conference of its kind held in Australia.

Among the delegates were cofounder of the first Haiku Pacific Rim Conference Mr Jerry Ball from USA and convenors of the second and third conferences Ms Yoshimura Ikuyo and Ms Noma Minako from Japan.

"Haiku are brief poems, which originated over 400 years ago in Japan, and celebrate the natural world," Ms George said.

"Pearl Beach Crommelin Native Arboretum was the perfect venue to inspire our 57 haiku writers.

"The conference was a lively one with visits to Gosford Edogawa Gardens and to the Australian Reptile Park and a full day presentation of papers at Terrigal.

"Our final stop was Pearl Beach, where delegates were guided through the Crommelin Arboretum by local residents Gillian Telford, Marion Stevens, Geoff Miller and David George, before posting up their best haiku from the reptile park and Pearl Beach on specially decorated boards in the Pearl Beach Memorial Hall.

"Pearl Beach residents Keith Cahill and Robert Lillico decorated the boards on which the haiku were pasted for peer judging, with eye-catching photographs of local flora and fauna. "Hall decoration and registering of the poems for voting was conducted by Mandy Harris, Judy Matheson, Nel Iliffe, Margaret Walklate and Nance Miller all of whom live in Pearl Beach and the lunch was enthusiastically attended by people from the Peninsula and from Sydney."

The fourth Haiku Pacific Rim Conference was supported by a cultural grant from Gosford Council.

Press release, 1 Oct 2009 Beverley George, Australian Haiku Society