Stewie Redgum

Ward 8 at the Q.E., somewhere down Woodville
A smoky grey Thursday - take out your sword
Stewie was born, there was blood on the sheets
The doctor was drunk and the sister was bored

Home was a weatherboard housing trust unit
A low cyclone fence and a sparse gravel drive
Dad was a truckie from Adelaide to Melbourne
Two trips a week just to keep them alive

The first sentence for Stewie was going to school
In prison-grey trousers he marched in the yard
His mum shed a tear at his vaselined pushback
Clutching a ruler, his name on a card

"Step forward Stewart Bedson," the headmaster said
It seemed like Stewie was always in strife
"Step forward Stewart Bedson," the magistrate said
"This time 10 years...next time, life"

Grades 1 through 7 passed pretty quickly
Detention and caning and one million lines
Stewie could read just enough to get by
Stewie could read all the shoplifting signs

There was a bond for a biro and a fine for some fags
Another kid's bike, leading up to a car
Photographs, fingerprints, juvenile courthouse
A year in McNally's for going too far