The Spirit of Australia

I am the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended

I’m the sunburnt country and the flooded plains

I’m the Barcoo and the Darling, I’m the Yarra and the Swan

I’m the muddy Murrumbidgee after rain.

I’m the sugar cane, the sack of wheat, I’ve made this country rich

From the Golden Fleece that rides upon my back

I’m on the stockroute back of Bourke, on the station way out west

I’m the six lane highway, I’m the desert track.

I’m the Indian Pacific, the Sunlander, the Ghan

I bind with steel the land beneath my rails

I’m the flying kangaroo, my long reach across the land

I’m all that drives and flies and steams and sails.

I’ve carried Banjo’s stockman, and Lawson’s rouseabout

I’m every horse that Gordon ever rode

I’m the colt from old Regret, I’m the packhorse and the dray

I’m the brumby bush horse from the Overflow.

I’m Lalor at the Stockade, I’m the Breaker on the veldt

I’m Simpson with his donkey at Lone Pine

I’m Tobruk, I’m Crete, I’m Long Tan, I’m the Sydney’s blazing guns

I’m the slave upon the railway on the Kwai.

I’m Dad and Dave, and - strike me lucky - I’m the Sentimental Bloke

I’m the man from where the Snowy River flows

I’m the slicker from the city, I’m the bastard from the bush

I’m Matilda waltzing down a country road.

I’m Brabham and I’m Bradman, I’m a girl called Goolagong

I’m the big red horse they killed in foreign lands

I’m Darcy in the ring and I’m Dally on the wing

And I’m Dougie lofting at the Members Stand.

I am Albert Namitjira, I am his canvas painted bright

I see this land through ageless open eyes

I’m the dreamtime, I’m the dawning, I’m older than the night

I am Uluru beneath the southern skies.

You can find me where the mountains tumble down against the sea

Where the wide brown land turns rich from flooding rain

Where the rivers of the inland flow proud beneath the sky

Where the west wind ripples through the golden grain.

From the mighty Southern Ocean to the jungles of the Gulf

From Byron to where Hartog nailed his plate

From Kosciuscko to the Cooper, from Sydney to the bush

I am everything that made this country great.

I’m the Spirit of Australia, I’m the soul of this great land

I’m what rides within and makes us what we are

I am you and me and all of us, I am tomorrow and today

I am the Spirit of the land. I am Australia.

Graeme Philipson, 1995