THE SETTLERS
| My granny had a treasure With which she'd never part It was her father's diary It was precious to her heart It was just a faded notebook That he carried on the track When he worked as a surveyor In Australia's great outback My granny read me excerpts As I sat upon her knee And when she passed away She left that treasured book to me His pages tell the story Of an outback so remote And among the many entries I found this scribbled note: Where the furthest country township Meets the door to the 'outback' Where a lonely, rock-strewn road Narrows to a dusty track Then the track is quickly swallowed By the growth of many years There, brave hearts battled nature They are known as 'pioneers' Where the land is fraught with dangers That would dare a man to roam There's a wreck of rotted timbers That was once a settler's home A brick fireplace is still standing And supports a rotted beam This is all that is remaining Of an early settler's dream Though the 'outback' is still rugged It was much more untamed then And it tested heart and spirit In the strongest of our men Pioneers from many countries Who had glimpsed a vision grand And with their wives and children Fought a duel with this new land A land of contradictions Of scorching drought and flood Dust storms of such intensity They'd test the strongest blood They trekked into this sunburnt land Where man had seldom crossed And a thirsty death awaited When a pioneer was lost They built their humble homesteads And slaved 'neath blazing sun But few would be rewarded With a battle that was won The sheep and cattle thirsted In this climate so unjust And the white bones of so many Rest beneath the thick, red dust In drought the plains stretch outward Like an endless sun-baked sea And in this desolation They found how cruel this land can be The blistering sun beat on them From an endless clear blue sky And in vain they searched for rain-clouds As each weary day dragged by I can almost feel their anguish And share their fading trust As I look upon a creek-bed That is caked with thick, red dust They endured so many tortures That could bend a will of steel And the emptiness and sadness That a broken heart can feel But the settlers clung together To pursue their distant dreams And their devotion to each other Proved what friendship really means Sometimes the bravest heart will yield It can no longer cope And it seems I feel the presence of The ghosts of buried hope Their strength was slowly ebbing As cruel fate waved its hand Now many sleep eternally In this unforgiving land Sprawled close-by to the ruins Is a crudely fashioned cross And its rusted iron now signifies A settler family's loss This cross now holds the secret Of a distant faded life Was this fashioned for a family pet? Or for a child or wife? But slowly some would conquer And slowly forge their way And to their courage and persistence We owe so much today In resentment this land yielded With victory won at last And though its still a dangerous land The worst is in the past As I stand among the ruins Where once a dream had been I force my mind to wander To a happy family scene I can see a smiling settler With his arm around his wife As they watch their children playing Coping bravely with this life With their spirit still unbroken In their eyes there is a gleam They dream of something better And what is life without a dream K.D. Abbott © 2008 NOTES: The 'Outback' is the remote and arid interior of Australia, although the term colloquially can cover any lands outside the main urban areas. The term 'Outback' is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas deemed 'the bush'. The Outback does not officially exist within any governmental frameworks or boundaries. Less than 10 percent of the Australian population live outside the urban settlements on the coastal fringes. It is a tribute to the Aboriginals that they roamed and survived in the 'outback' long before the white man set foot in Australia. ************************************* |
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