From the Gulf
Store cattle from Nelanjie! The mob goes feeding past,
With half-a-mile of sandhill ’twixt the leaders and the last;
The nags that move behind them are the good old Queensland stamp—
Short backs and perfect shoulders that are priceless on a camp;
And these are men that ride them, broad-chested, tanned and tall,
The bravest hearts amongst us and the lightest hands of all.
Oh! let them wade in Wonga grass and taste the Wonga dew,
And let them spread, those thousand head—for we’ve been droving too!
Store cattle from Nelanjie! By half-a-hundred towns,
By Northern ranges rough and red, by rolling open downs,
By stock-routes brown and burnt and bare, by flood-wrapped river- bends,
They’ve hunted them from gate to gate—the drover has no friends;
But idly they may ride to-day beneath the scorching sun
And let the hungry bullocks try the grass on Wonga run;
No overseer dogs them here to “see the cattle through,”
But they may spread their thousand head —for we’ve been droving too!
Store cattle from Nelanjie! They’ve a naked track to steer,
The stockyards at Wodonga are a long way down from here;
The creeks won’t run till God knows when, and half the holes are dry,
The tanks are few and far between and water’s dear to buy ;
There’s plenty at the Brolga Bore for all his stock and mine—
We’ll pass him with a brave God-speed across the Border Line,
And if he goes a five-mile stage and loiters slowly through.
We’ll only think the more of him —for we’ve been droving too!
Store cattle from Nelanjie! They’re mute as milkers now,
But yonder grizzled drover, with the care-lines on his brow,
Could tell of merry musters on the big Nelanjie plains,
With blood upon the chestnut’s flanks and foam upon the reins;
Could tell of nights upon the road when those same mild-eyed steers
Went ringing round the river bend and through the scrub like spears;
And if his words are rude and rough, we know his words are true,
We know what wild Nelanjies are —and we’ve been droving too!
Store cattle from Nelanjie! Around the fire at night
They’ve watched the pine-tree shadows lift before the dancing light;
They’ve lain awake to listen when the weird bush-voices speak,
And heard the lilting bells go by along the empty creek;
They’ve spun the yarns of hut and camp, the tales of play and work,
The wond’rous tales that gild the road from Normanton to Bourke;
They’ve told of fortune foul and fair, of women false and true,
And well we know the songs they’ve sung—for we’ve been droving too!
Store cattle from Nelanjie! Their breath is on the breeze;
You hear them tread, a thousand head, in bluegrass to the knees;
The lead is on the netting-fence, the wings are spreading wide,
The lame and laggard scarcely move—so slow the drovers ride.
But let them stay and feed to-day for sake of Auld Lang Syne;
They’ll never get a chance like this below the Border Line;
And if they tread our frontage down, what’s that to me or you?
What’s ours to fare, by God they’ll share! for we’ve been droving too!
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:
- published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
- anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
- government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).
This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.
Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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