I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains
Of ragged mountain ranges
Of droughts and flooding rains……
Somehow I don’t think Dorothea Mackellar had this in mind when she wrote the poem about her beloved Australia…..but I’m sure it would have made her smile, it certainly made me smile when I came across it.
This delightful painting is on a signal box cover in Brisbane city. I love it!
Artforce is a Brisbane City Council initiative which calls on residents to design and paint an artwork on a traffic signal box. There are 1,000 boxes in Brisbane and 900 of these are painted. Don’t you think that is a great idea? It is much better than looking at dull grey boxes.
Dorothea Mackellar was in England and homesick for Australia when she wrote her poem which was eventually called My Country. It was first published in 1908. I remember learning it when I was at primary school.
I would love to have shared the whole poem with you, but it is subject to copy-write. I asked permission to print the poem, but it was not given. I suppose there may be a good reason for this…..but I can’t think of one.
Take a look at the official site to see the entire poem. www.dorotheamackellar.com
I leave Brisbane for Bagni di Lucca tomorrow….I will be returning to my sunburnt country in November.