Dorothea McKellar – Canberra's Green Spaces

When the long hot summer is over, autumn is most welcomed in Australia.

Here are two verses from Dorothea McKellar’s beautiful poem called

Australian Autumn

Rowing on an early autumn morning across Lake Burley Griffin near the Carillon

This is the gentlest season of the year,

From mists of pearl and gold

Lake Tuggeranong looking over the Brindabella Mountains

The slow sweet hours unfold…

fishing in Lake Burley Griffin near King’s Avenue bridge

To crystal colours, still

as a glass, but not so chill..

All birds speak softly in the autumn bush..

And so the mellow day flows on to dusk.

and loveliness that grows

From skies of mauve and rose,

While fragrant smoke-plumes lie

Subtle as a memory.

Isn’t autumn a wonderful season? I hope you are enjoying your season, where ever you are in the world.

I have a few busy weeks coming up and I won’t be able to post, but I will read your posts and enjoy keeping up with your worlds.

This was going to be a post about sculptures at the National Arboretum in Canberra ….but I digress…..

As you drive up to the Arboretum there is a most imposing sculpture along the ridge of the hill.

The metal words in cursive, say..

wide brown land….

These three scripted words were taken from the diary of an Australian poet, Dorothea McKellar. Her poem is called My Country .

I didn’t know until recently that Dorothea was only 22 years old when she wrote that poem. She was living in England and missing her home country.

I was 19 years old when I came to Australia (from Africa)

…and I was 22 when I came back from a holiday in England and realised that Australia was my home, a place I love.

Perhaps we need to leave to learn how we feel about our place in the world.

I have always loved Dorothea McKellar’s poem, and here are the words of one of the verses that lend themselves to some photos I have taken over the last few years……

My country

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 feel very lucky to have a place in the world….what is your favourite place?

Tag: Dorothea McKellar

Canberra in Autumn …the gentlest season of the year

”I love a sunburnt country” ….