Week 5 of 52 - Australian
Another week, another layout...and this week I'm celebrating being Australian! Yesterday was Australia Day - the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain, and the raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove by its commander Captain Arthur Phillip, in 1788. On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. It's the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation. Today Australia Day celebrations reflect contemporary Australia: our diverse society and landscape, our remarkable achievements and our bright future. It's the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future. Worthy of a layout I say. The photos were taken at my sister's place where she hosted the traditional Aussie bbq. lol. The title for my layout comes from these lyrics (one of my fav. songs - I get weepy everytime I listen to it).
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian...
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian...
In the spirit of sharing...I wanted to share this poem by Dorothea MacKellar which she wrote at the tender age of 19 (you can read about her here). This poem is still as poignant and beautifully descriptive today as when it was written over 100 years ago.
My Country
© 1904 Dorothea MacKellar
The love of field and coppice, of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance, brown streams and soft, dim skies-
I know but cannot share it, my love is otherwise.
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!
The stark white ring-barked forests, all tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains, the hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops, and ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us we see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather, and we can bless again
The drumming of an army, the steady soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country! Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine she pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks, watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness that thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country, a wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her, you will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours, wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country my homing thoughts will fly.
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To all my Aussie friends, I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating our country yesterday; and to all my o/s friends, thanks for indulging me. lol.
Lis.
