This week, throughout the length and breadth of the Australian continent, wireless waves from both A and B class stations are broadcasting race descriptions and results, and myriads of ears are bent toward receiving sets.
This is the listening week of the year --
Listening-in.
A-cock and alert is the national ear --
Listening-in.
All over the land in the country towns,
From the back of the Leeuwin to Darling Downs,
Layers of "quids" or the odd half-crowns,
They are listening-in.
On the far-flung farms they are round each set,
Listening-in.
The work and the worry they all forget,
Listening-in.
Wherever an aerial soars in space
To the Cup, or the Oaks or the Steeplechase,
To the roar of the ring and the lure of the race
They are listening-in.
In the far outback there are sun-tanned men,
Listening-in.
Where the woolshed stands by the drafting pen --
Listening-in.
Old Dad's come in from the Ninety Mile;
He scored on the Cup and he wears a smile,
And he "reckons this game is well worth while" --
So he's listening in.
To the edge of the desert the sound-waves go;
And, listening-in,
Ned of the Overland, Saltbush Joe --
Listening-in --
Recall the giants of years long past,
And the loneliness of these spaces vast;
But they reckon that life's worth living at last
With this listening-in.
First published in The Herald, 8 November 1933
Author reference sites: C.J. Dennis, Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
