Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day down in the harbour
Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you its a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years
Great Southern Land, burned you black
So you look into the land and it will tell you a story
Story 'bout a journey ended long ago
Listen to the motion of the wind in the mountains
Maybe you can hear them talking like I do
". . they're gonna betray you, they're gonna forget you
Are you gonna let them take you over that way . ."
Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
You walk alone, like a primitive man
And they make it work, with sticks and bones
See their hungry eyes, its a hungry home
I hear the sound of the stranger's voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes
Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
They burned you black, black against the ground
Standing at the limit of an endless ocean
Stranded like a runaway, lost at sea
City on a rainy day down in the harbour
Watching as the grey clouds shadow the bay
Looking everywhere 'cause I had to find you
This is not the way that I remember it here
Anyone will tell you its a prisoner island
Hidden in the summer for a million years
Great Southern Land, in the sleeping sun
You walk alone with the ghost of time
They burned you black, black against the ground
And they make it work with rocks and sand
I hear the sound of the stranger's voices
I see their hungry eyes, their hungry eyes
Great Southern Land, Great Southern Land
You walk alone, like a primitive man
You walk alone with the ghost of time
And they burned you black
Yeah, they burned you black
Great Southern Land
Songwriters: Ivor Davies
Great Southern Land lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli)
is an Aboriginal community in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The main language spoken in the community is Kunwinjku
This was a remote region my father worked in and loved for many years.
It required a 10 hour flight from Sydney To Darwin
and then a 10 hour remote dusty and slow 4WD drive to get there
And dad was there regularly, at least 10 visits I can remember for up to a month.
As he slowly earned respect of the elders during these visits,
he was surprised to be gifted a range of traditional tribal pieces;
art, artefacts, didgeridoos. stone cooking implements and grinding stones,
boomerangs, nulla nulla's, hunting clubs and spears.
Some of these were lost or misplaced throughout the early 1960's to the mid 1970's
but some also survive as treasured memories of an exploring, wandering father
who was passionate about people, nature, geography and geology,
especially the ancients of this beautifully wild and remote region,
now declared and preserved as one of the biggest indigenous reserves in the world.
I remember on his return to our home in the "Big Smoke" (Sydney)
sharing stories of the kind and wise indigenous people he met there,
not to mention the bags of fresh caught, snap frozen Barramundi,
dad brought back as well, still a favourite fish delicacy to this day.
It really is The Great Southern Land.
Happy dad took the time to share these stories.
And record his adventures in A Big Family Book.
Which I might re read one day.
Thank you Dad, for leaving me with your mantra.
"I wonder what's over the next hill?"
footnote:
(RIO TINTO is the parent company of
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) who have reinforced its plan for the
closure and rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine
near Jabiru in the Northern Territory.
After more than 35 years of uranium mining at Ranger,
ERA is required to cease mining and processing activities by January 2021,
with rehabilitation to be completed by January 2026.)
Dad was one of Australia's leading Uranium exploration geologists.
He was in West Arnhem Land for his employer,
RIO TINTO to seek new mining leases and sign deals with indigenous owners.
He managed Australia's first uranium mine at Mary Kathleen,
a remote mining town between Cloncurry and Mount Isa
in Queensland in the late 1950's.
(Mum baked PM Bob Menzies scones when he came to officially open the mine,
he didn't like them, mum couldn't bake scones for love nor money.
Never tried again, after she almost choked the Prime Minister, she reckons...)
Growing up, I associated Nuclear power with WW2 Hiroshima.
And ICBM's with nuclear warheads.
Despite dad's fervent lectures to the contrary..
"Half life dad, half life" was all I replied.
(referring to how long nuclear waste tailings
remain dangerously radio active)
As I grew older,
I strongly disagreed with both fossils fuels and Uranium mining
the two areas of exploration work my father specialised in.
I joined the fledgling Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) in 1981 to piss dad off.
Which it did. Supremely.
The damming of the pristine Tasmanian wilderness Franklin River in 1983 for hydro power
was another political/progress/environment division between dad and I
Luckily the dam never went ahead as the Federal govt changed over this issue amongst many others.
And then I joined The Greens, this time because
I was passionate about environmental protection. Not pissing dad off.
Although it did, but by then it didn't matter as I was over 18.
So that tension remained for quite some time.
Especially because in his heart dad was a simple nature lover, bush walks, rivers and forests,
but economic growth and stock trading and business was his work world.
And he was entitled to that view. Myopic, entitled and indulgent actually.
It just wasn't my world and it still isn't.
footnote:
(RIO TINTO is the parent company of
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) who have reinforced its plan for the
closure and rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium mine
near Jabiru in the Northern Territory.
After more than 35 years of uranium mining at Ranger,
ERA is required to cease mining and processing activities by January 2021,
with rehabilitation to be completed by January 2026.)
Dad was one of Australia's leading Uranium exploration geologists.
He was in West Arnhem Land for his employer,
RIO TINTO to seek new mining leases and sign deals with indigenous owners.
He managed Australia's first uranium mine at Mary Kathleen,
a remote mining town between Cloncurry and Mount Isa
in Queensland in the late 1950's.
(Mum baked PM Bob Menzies scones when he came to officially open the mine,
he didn't like them, mum couldn't bake scones for love nor money.
Never tried again, after she almost choked the Prime Minister, she reckons...)
Growing up, I associated Nuclear power with WW2 Hiroshima.
And ICBM's with nuclear warheads.
Despite dad's fervent lectures to the contrary..
"Half life dad, half life" was all I replied.
(referring to how long nuclear waste tailings
remain dangerously radio active)
As I grew older,
I strongly disagreed with both fossils fuels and Uranium mining
the two areas of exploration work my father specialised in.
I joined the fledgling Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) in 1981 to piss dad off.
Which it did. Supremely.
The damming of the pristine Tasmanian wilderness Franklin River in 1983 for hydro power
was another political/progress/environment division between dad and I
Luckily the dam never went ahead as the Federal govt changed over this issue amongst many others.
And then I joined The Greens, this time because
I was passionate about environmental protection. Not pissing dad off.
Although it did, but by then it didn't matter as I was over 18.
So that tension remained for quite some time.
Especially because in his heart dad was a simple nature lover, bush walks, rivers and forests,
but economic growth and stock trading and business was his work world.
And he was entitled to that view. Myopic, entitled and indulgent actually.
It just wasn't my world and it still isn't.
