Geology in verse

Alexander Jenyns Boyd was an agricultural scientist and a successful teacher. He emigrated to Queensland in 1860, purchased land and successfully grew cotton and rice. His wife Isabella was a teacher and by 1867 Boyd was also teaching, becoming headmaster of Oxley State School. His teaching style was progressive. He returned to the land but following an outbreak of disease in his sugar cane crop he once more resumed teaching as head of Townsville State School.

Boyd later became the agricultural writer for The Queenslander, and travelled widely through the state. He published a number of works on agricultural issues, and a series of sketches about interesting characters. His sole attempt at a work for children was The Earth's history ... written while headmaster at Toowoomba State School. In this he explained geology in verse, surely one of the more unusual ways to teach the subject. Saxby (p. 432) considers the work a 'pedantic sermon'.

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