We are the old-world people, Ours were the hearts to dare;But our youth is spent, and our backs are bent, And the snow is on our hair.
Back in the early fifties,
Dim through the mists of years,
By the bush-grown strand of a wild, strange land We entered-the Pioneers.
Our axes rang in the woodlands
Where the gaudy bush-birds flew,
And we turned the loam of our new-found home Where the eucalyptus grew.
Housed in the rough log shanty, Camped in the leaking tent,From sea to view of the mountains blue, Where the eager fossickers went,We wrought with a will unceasing,
We moulded, and fashioned, and planned,
And we fought with the black, and we blazed the track, That ye might inherit the land.
Here are your shops and churches, Your cities of stucco and smoke;And the swift trains fly where the wild cat"s cry O"er the sad bush silence broke.
Take now the fruit of our labour, Nourish and guard it with care,For our youth is spent, and our backs are bent, And the snow is on our hair.
- Frank Hudson
Author.-Frank Hudson was a little-known Australian writer.
General Notes.-A pioneer was originally a foot soldier; in military use it denotes one of an engineering corps sent forward to remove obstructions, form roads, etc. What does it mean here? What was happening in Australia in the early fifties?What are fossickers? Were there many fights with the blacks? What is stucco? What is the fruit of the labour of the early pioneers? How can we nourish and guard it? Find out the names of the pioneers of your district.
