Gunnedah claims Dorothea McKellar even though nobody is sure that she lived here. It is believed that she holidayed here and that this area inspired her most famous poem, My Country.The best known verse goes like this (with apologies for any memory lapse)
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me.
In Gunnedah I was impressed with the other acknowledgements of history. In the Pensioners' Hill Park there are a number of sandstone sculptures detailing the indigenous and the modern history of the town.
I followed the Poets' Walk around town. Copies of famous poems have been set up in appropriate places. 'Said Hanrahan" is in the grounds of the Catholic Church. 'The Bush School' is at the state school etc. I loved the concept but unfortunately they have not been maintained and are hard to find and equally hard to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment