This is one verse of the beautiful evocative poem, written by Dorothy Mackellar.
And I dedicate it to this weeks WP photo challenge theme, “beloved”
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts
and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty
and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!
I love Australia, it is a land of diversity and beauty and I could not imagine living anywhere else.
Here is the full poem
My Country
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!
A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die –
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold –
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land –
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand –
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
It is very special. We really are lucky.
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Definitely the lucky country Tracy
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I like this post you have shown a good cross section of Aussie.
Dorothy Mackellar was home sick Living in England when she wrote this poem.
Pauline you left England at 18 and after 37years in New Zealand you came to this Australia.
Tell me where do you like the most?😎🐨
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What a difficult question to answer Jack. I’ll have to say that I always love the place I am in. Make the most of the moment and Australia is indeed a great country and I am so pleased I came here. Though NZ holds a very special place in my heart… 😍💕
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I agree happiness is where you are.🙏
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😍
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What a very wonderful post, Pauline. A fine tribute to an astonishing land. The light in the ‘sunburnt country’ is so captivating and I love the way you used the lines of the poem.
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Thanks Tish. It was actually raining and was cool, 25C degrees, so had a lovely afternoon scrolling through the archives and my memories to choose the images for the words.
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Well scrolled!
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A beautiful poem which you have illustrated beautifully. ♥
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One of my favourite poems and I had a lovely reminiscing afternoon searching for the photos
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I can understand that!
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Perfect combination of words and photos!
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Thanks Judy
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Such evocative words and images of a fascinating part of the planet…what a great answer you gave to Jack’s question- make the most of the moment!
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Australia is an amazing place. Still lots of places to visit, but time is catching up with me now.
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With us all but we keep moving as comfortably as we can:-)
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Oh yes, move it or lose it…
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Oh, marvellous!
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Thanks Sue
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Wonderful poem and how delightfully you have illustrated it. You have also made me think of Browning’s “Home Thoughts from Abroad”
I like your attitude of loving where you are living at the moment. No point in having regrets.
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I spent ages scrolling through the archives to chose these photos Jude. Spent a delightful RAINY afternoon reliving my time over here. Definitely no regrets.
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What a beautiful share Pauline And I can see why you love it.. A lovely poem to go with your chosen photos… Have a Wonderful Weekend to come. Love and Hugs Sue ❤
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Thanks Sue, it was very hard narrowing down to these few photos from the thousands I have in my archives. Hugs back to you and hope it is warming up a bit over there
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Thanks Pauline.. Its set to go colder for the weekend.. Snow on the forecast or sleet… so keeping warm and snug.. 😀
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Lovely tribute to your adopted home, Pauline. That opening shot is a dazzler and I love the last one too. 🙂 🙂
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thanks Jo. You’ll soon have an adopted country too. Hope you have found some sunshine.
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Sunshine and a few clouds, friends and good food and wine Pauline. Don’t need more xx
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Sounds perfect
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Thanks for posting my favourite poem. Nothing describes Australia better. And how often do we gaze out across that vastness and say “ I love a sunburnt country”?
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I was saying it all the time as we travelled around Australia. At times it can quite take your breath away.
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You crest a hill and there it is laid out before you, seemingly forever and my head starts to recite “and he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended…”
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Amazing scenery
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Nicely done, Pauline. Wonderful photos to illustrate the poem. I’m glad you’ve found your ideal country in which to settle. 🙂
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So happy to be here Sylvia
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I’ve often wished that my dad had migrated our family to Australia when he had the chance all those years ago.
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I think America is also a good country, if you look past the politics
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Yup! We have Pontiacs!
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[…] benskin mesher.beloved. Shoot ‘N GoWeekly Photo Challenge: Beloved WPC: Beloved – snaphappi Beloved, my adopted country… – Living in Paradise… All I could ask for – VJ’s Fotoplore Beloved – Full Moon Inn – What’s (in) the […]
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I can not imagine adopting another country or region. I am only a few miles outside of the Santa Clara Valley, but can not stop wanting to go home. The Santa Cruz Mountains are an excellent place to be. I should be more than happy here; but I still want to go home.
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So where is home?
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The Santa Clara Valley. However, it is more than the place. It is also the time, which is now a long time ago. The Santa Clara Valley has changed so much. I intend to go back anyway. The Santa Clara Valley is where San Jose is. My home is in Los Gatos, which is a smaller adjacent town to the southwest of the Santa Clara Valley, and into the Santa Cruz Mountains.
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I think change is inevitable. The nicer a place is the more people want to live there and it gets loved to death
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[…] Beloved, my adopted country… – Living in Paradise… […]
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Oh Pauline, What a delightful take on this week’s prompt. Lovely photos to match the words 🙂
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Thanks Ruth. We are lucky to call Australia home.😊
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I love how you’ve matched poem and pictures Pauline 🙂
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I enjoyed searching through the archives for these photos. Like reliving my Matilda years….
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