In this vast and sparsely populated Land there is so much to see <br />From Cape York at the very top to Tasmania on the sea <br />The deserts of Central Australia and Queensland's brown outback <br />Where most by roads off of the highway end up in a dirt track. <br /> <br />Kakadu in the Northern Territory where bird and animal life abound <br />The ponds and lakes and billabongs to the dangerous salt crocs home ground <br />The vast outbacks of Western and South Australia and the salt pans of the Coorong <br />Home of the indigenuous tribes of corroboree and song. <br /> <br />This is an ancient Country though some refer to it as new <br />From the old stories of the Dreamtime the myths and legends grew <br />Through the brown lands and the flat lands where the Murray river flow <br />Of the history of this Country there is much to learn and know. <br /> <br />In the Blue Mountains of New South Wales the gullies are steep and wide <br />And on the Queensland New South Wales border miles of scenic countryside <br />And in the sugar cane and banana country that stretch northward from Lismore <br />Miles and miles of green cash crop lands stretching towards the ocean shore <br /> <br />In the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria where the Mountain ash stand tall <br />Where a thirty metres giant would be even seen as small <br />Lives one called the superb lyrebird the most amazing mimic of them all <br />Even the noise of a chainsaw in his song he can recall <br /> <br />To this vast and sparsely populated Country to where the Seasons come and go <br />There are fertile lands and coastal lands where only saltbush grow, <br />There are mighty Mountain ash trees that seem to touch the sky <br />To the small and lovely tree fern trees about six metres high.<br /><br />Francis Duggan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-this-vast-and-sparsely-populated-land/
