The rains have arrived.
"I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!"
Dorothea Mackellar was born in Sydney in 1885 into a well-established, wealthy family, and was educated privately at the University of Sydney. At 19 years old she wrote a poem, 'My Country', the second verse of which is perhaps the best known stanza in Australian poetry. Her family owned substantial properties in the Gunnedah district of New South Wales and it is in this town which claims her as their own, there a statue of her on horseback has been erected.
These words were so true then as they are now. We have been through months of raging bushfires and now the rains have come which are now causing flooding in some parts. The land is so dry and hard from the drought that we need some light rain to soak in to the soil before the heavy rains can ease the drought.
The rain and cooler weather after the heatwave is pure bliss.
The full poem can be read here:
allpoetry.com/poem/8526595-My-Country-by-Dorothea-Mackellar
We heard on the news if the rains continue as predicted, our dam will most likely be up to 70% by next week - shows what a bit of rain can do.
The rains have arrived.
"I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!"
Dorothea Mackellar was born in Sydney in 1885 into a well-established, wealthy family, and was educated privately at the University of Sydney. At 19 years old she wrote a poem, 'My Country', the second verse of which is perhaps the best known stanza in Australian poetry. Her family owned substantial properties in the Gunnedah district of New South Wales and it is in this town which claims her as their own, there a statue of her on horseback has been erected.
These words were so true then as they are now. We have been through months of raging bushfires and now the rains have come which are now causing flooding in some parts. The land is so dry and hard from the drought that we need some light rain to soak in to the soil before the heavy rains can ease the drought.
The rain and cooler weather after the heatwave is pure bliss.
The full poem can be read here:
allpoetry.com/poem/8526595-My-Country-by-Dorothea-Mackellar
We heard on the news if the rains continue as predicted, our dam will most likely be up to 70% by next week - shows what a bit of rain can do.