MOTHERLODE

Ken Ferguson


“Uranium Exploration Geologist, thinks twice” KF: Alice Springs, 1983

I am walking on this land with a hammer in my hand
And the spinifex is cutting to the bone
Though I was sent to look for wealth that is hidden in the earth
I have found a Motherlode that they can’t own.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.

The explorers gave you names for your ridges and your plains
Though they feared your ancient landscape like a foe
But your weathered rocks and stones, that to me feel more like home
Have deeper names than I will ever know.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.

Well, the gaps that cut your ranges have paintings in their caves
And Galahs in screeching clouds around the mills
But the sand between your toes where the river rarely flows
Shows your creeks are even older than your hills.

Send your ranges to the horizon
Give your water to the sand
Hide your distance in mirages
Where the sky lies on the land.



Another track from “singing geologist”, the late Ken Ferguson, from his 1997 CD “Basic Blue”.
For more info, see my posting on March 5th of his “Alice on the Line” – March 20th posting for “Franklin’s River” - and also his Mudcat Obit.

[Sadly, I am yet to find any of his work online …….]


R-J