A Reflection on Outback at Longreach
07 Nov 2015
Our Outback Tour was everything an outback tour should be
With hardly any noise there but birds up in the trees
Kilometres of roadways, most of them quite good
Split this brown landscape, dusty, dry and made us think we should
Do more to help these folks, who suffer every day.
With lack of rain, and lack of grain, their stock just fades away.
Dead 'roos and other animals litter every road
Many from starvation, so we have been told
But the folks out here are wonderful, so caring and so giving
Many work at several jobs, just to make a living.
Their farms will not support them
They are forced to diversify
Yet nothing stops their cheerful smile
As they look us in the eye
And thank us all for coming, it makes us want to cry.
What do us city people know of hardship in the bush?
We have romantic notions of it being green and lush
But reality is different, dusty paddocks, dry and bare
And despite their outward cheer, in their hearts there is despair
This trip has shown us all how strong these people are.
And I, for one, salute them, to me they are a star
When we return to city life, our memory will dim
Of the man in the outback and what it meant to him
That we travelled there to meet his struggling family
So let us not forget them, it could be you or me.
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