G'day all and happy Aussie Day,

Kat:

Here are the words;

The Men Who Made Australia Henry Lawson

There'll be royal times in Sydney for the Cuff and Collar Push,
There'll be lots of dreary drivel and clap-trap
From the men who own Australia, but who never knew the Bush,
And who could not point their runs out on the map.
Oh, the daily Press will grovel as it never did before,'
There'll be many flags of welcome in the air,
And the Civil Service poet, he shall write odes by the score
But the men who made the land will not be there.

You shall meet the awful Lady of the latest Birthday Knight,
And to represent Australia here today,
You shall hear the empty mouthing of the champion blatherskite,
But the men who made Australia - where are they?
Call across the blazing sand wastes of the Never-Never Land!
There are some who will not answer -yet awhile,
Some whose bones rot in the mulga or lie bleaching on the sand,
Died of thirst to win the land another mile.

Call across the scrubby ridges where they clear the barren soil,
And the gaunt Bushwomen share the work of men -
Toil and loneliness forever - hardship, loneliness and toil -
Where the brave drought-ruined farmer starts again!
There are carriages in waiting for the swells from over-sea,
There are banquets in the latest London style,
While the men who made Australia live on damper, junk and tea
But the quiet voices whisper, "Wait a while."

For the sons of all Australia, they were born to conquer fate
And, where charity and friendship are sincere,
Where a sinner is a brother and a stranger is a mate,
There the future of a nation's written clear.

I am just working on dance music arrangements to be played on the march tomorrow for Sydney's Chinatown celebrations of Chinese New Year (The Australian Heritage Dancers are in the parade - including my co-editor on Mulga Wire, Colin Fong).

I just realised that the tune I know to this is virtually the same as Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane (known here as several songs, including a shearing song Another Fall of Rain or Waiting for the Rain - the lament of a bunch of worn out shearers, hoping for rain to bring a break in activity so their sore wrists and back can recuperate.

I published the song arrangement in 1987 in Mulga Wire, to use where appropriate in the Bicentennial guff ... then I republished it late last year, to prepare for all the Governmental guff at the entenary of Federation!

Regards,

Bob Bolton