When will some new Australian poet rise?
To all the height and glory of his theme?
Nor on the sombre side for ever dream ---
Our bare baked plains, our pitiless blue skies,
'Neath which the haggard bushman strains his eyes
To find some waterhole or hidden stream
To save himself and flocks in want extreme!
This is not all Australia! Let us prize
Our grand inheritance! Had sunny Greece
More light, more glow, more freedom, or more mirth?
Ours are wide vistas, bathed in purest air ---
Youth's outdoor pleasures, age's indoor peace;
Where could we find a fairer home on earth
Which we ourselves are free to make more fair?
First published in The Register, 8 January 1903
To all the height and glory of his theme?
Nor on the sombre side for ever dream ---
Our bare baked plains, our pitiless blue skies,
'Neath which the haggard bushman strains his eyes
To find some waterhole or hidden stream
To save himself and flocks in want extreme!
This is not all Australia! Let us prize
Our grand inheritance! Had sunny Greece
More light, more glow, more freedom, or more mirth?
Ours are wide vistas, bathed in purest air ---
Youth's outdoor pleasures, age's indoor peace;
Where could we find a fairer home on earth
Which we ourselves are free to make more fair?
First published in The Register, 8 January 1903
