I love a sunburnt country

The title of this post is the opening words of Dorothy McKellar's poem.

On the ABC this morning they were discussing what could be considede icinoc Aussie songs.

So I thought I'd look for the words of Dorothy McKellars famous poem.

A listener rang in to say, it had been put to music, by William James and that she had it on a record.

So, as one does I tried to find the music on the internet.

I found the words to the poem, but not the music.


The love of field and coppice, Of green and shaded Lanes, Of ordered woods and gardens, Is running in your veins; Strong love of grey-blue distance, Brown streams and soft, dim skies - I know but cannot share it, My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of drought and flooding rains, I love her far horizons, I love her jewel sea, Her beauty and her terror - The wide brown land for me.

The tragic ring-barked forests Stark white beneath the moon, The sapphire-misted mountains, The hot gold hush of noon. Green tangle of the brushes Where lithe lianas coil, An orchids deck the tree-tops And ferns the crimson soil.

Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky, When sick at heart around us We see the cattle die - But then the grey clouds gather And we can bless again The drumming of an army, The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country! Land of the Rainbow Gold, For flood and fire and famine, She pays us back threefold; Over the thirsty paddocks, Watch, after many days, The filmy veil of greenness That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country, A wilful, lavish land - All you who have not loved her, You will not understand - Though Earth holds many splendours, Wherever I may die, I know to what brown Country My homing thoughts will fly.