Aus pride world wide

I never realised before how much I love my country, and love the people who live in it. I love that I only have to walk across the road and into town to see a hundred different nationalities and religions all waiting on my doorstep. I love that I'm wise enough to see that we all share a planet together and we may as well have fun learning from one another while we do. I like to see the way different countries raise their children; I like to see that racism has, at least in my city, been put on the backburner - still there but not doing as much harm as it could. Of course, it sucks that it's still there.

[I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red soil planes
I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come
For forty thousand years I've been the first Australian.]

I love this country. To many people here it's too dry and dusty and barren. There are more evergreens than there are the colonised, romantic willows or oaks. Those trees can't survive out here. To me, this country is a glittering jewel. To the north, Queensland, humid and hot and as tropical as Fiji or Aitutaki. To the south, Tasmania, cold and wet and icy. In the middle, a desert. Kangaroos.

It has always amazed me that through hundreds of bushfires the willows, oaks, and introduced creatures of this country have died and haven't repopulated, but the kangaroos and kookaburras and koalas, the evergreens, cactuses and berry bushes, come back even fiercer and more beautiful than before. No matter how the fire devastates the environment, that which is natural continues to foster life.

[I came upon a prison ship, bowed down by iron chains
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains
I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife, on a dry and barren run
A convict, then a free man, I became Australian.]

Seventy percent of the land is desert. Society survives on the fringes, glittering jewels of cities that light up like a massive Christmas tree at night. Victoria is a massive land space but well over seventy five percent lives in Melbourne, which takes up about a tenth of Victoria's land mass.

I am one of the twenty five percent that doesn't live in Melbourne.

I'm proud to say that I'm one of the country kids who roughed it in just a sleeping bag on a forty-five degree day, sleeping on the cliffs and jumping into the river. I've driven a houseboat, I've herded sheep on a horse as fast as a bullet. I've gotten cuts and scratches and been bitten by numerous white-back spiders. I was a wild country kid with tangled hair and a dangerous smile.

[I'm the daughter of the digger who sought the motherlode
The girl became a woman on a long and dusty road
I'm a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler, I am Australian.]

I'm proud to say that out here you don't try to swim across the river because you don't know when a snap turtle will munch your toes. Inside I'm secretly gleeful when the oaks on the river are unable to take the high salt concentration but the gums stand as firm as they did a hundred years ago. I'm proud to say that I once ran away - taking a horse with me.

I'm completely proud on the other side to admit that I have in fact lost it a little and broken into street-dancing in the middle of Victoria's Mall, the biggest mall in Melbourne.

So I'd definitely say I'm proud to call this harsh, beautiful land my home.

[I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian.

There are no words of comfort that can hope to ease the pain
Of losing homes and loved ones the memories will remain
Withint the silent tears you'll find the strength to carry on
You're not alone, we're with you. We are Australian.

There are so many heroes whose stories must be told
They fought the raging fires of hell and saved so many souls
From the ashes of despair our towns will rise again!
We mourn your loss, we will rebuild, we are Australian.

I'm the hot wind from the desert, I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys, I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian.

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands of earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian.]

-a solitary blue.