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"She seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if she had surprised a butterfly in the Winter woods"
(edith wharton)


Friday 16 January 2009

this wide brown land for me...My Country - Dorothea Mackellar along with Miss*R's photos....

to start with, I thought I would share my trip along with a poem that I learned as a child at school. As I rode (actually, I pillioned) through this vast land, the poem came back to me and the idea was born to share my photos with this poem. (don't forget that these photos were taken from the back of the Harley while travelling at 100kph.)

taken from the archives of the State Library of NSW:

Sometime before 1908, while on a visit to England, a homesick young Australian woman, Dorothea Mackellar, put her thoughts down on paper in a poem she called 'Core of My Heart'.
This famous poem (later retitled 'My Country') is believed to have been directly inspired by Dorothea Mackellar's experience of life on the land. The iconic verse is now regarded by many Australians as the universal statement of our nation's connection to the land.

I have taken excerpts to put along with my photos... you can read the whole poem here:
My Country by Dorothea Mackellar

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!

all these photos are from my travels while away & there are lots more photos to come and I will share more each day with stories and maybe some thoughts from my journal...

14 comments:

Tracy said...

The sea photos are heavenly! All of the photos are lovely, but I am partial to the seaside. :)

Lovely poem, too!

laoi gaul~williams said...

absolutely amazing~your journey has made me long to get in pippin and travel and explore.
xoxo

Tinker said...

Oh, lovely photos, Robyn - your land is beautiful! I'm glad you had such a good vacation~xox

Tori said...

These photos are beautiful! I love them... thanks for sharing. =)

Lisa said...

I love how you integrated the poem with the photos.
Pretty good from the back of a speeding motorcycle - I wouldn't even have the nerve to let go long enough to take a photo!

Fire Byrd said...

Those are great phots from the back of a harley! My email is down, cause I was trying to write to you. So I'll be in touch as soon as.
xx

Sorrow said...

Oh Robyn!
These are wonderful, but more than that you can feel your heart reaching into the vastness of it.
A connection that seeps into red dirt and blue sea, and a love...
Wonderful!
will be peeking back to see more from your journey!

Genie Sea said...

Awesome photos! Truly breathtaking! From behind a motorcycle you say? O can't tell...

It's amazing how much you have changed in the little time I have "known" you. You have found your home and I am incredibly happy for you :)

Anonymous said...

I LOVE that poem Robyn and just love the way youve illustrated it with you photos - what a brilliant idea...my fave line of the poem is I love a sunburnt country. with 40C here today we know the meaning of sunburnt only too well.

Ruth said...

That's beautiful Robyn and there is a real feeling that you are `home' at last.

Anonymous said...

More please! You can feel the Physical warmth of the landscape and get a sense of freedom in your photos so cleverly taken from the back of a bike! It's so relaxing to take a short break away and as Dorothea Mckellar states, even in drought the baked earth holds a fascination.It is a wide brown land for sure, too much to see in our lifetime and most of it inaccesible. Glad you're both back Robyn and that you had a good time.I'm looking forward to those future posts!xxx

amelia said...

Beautiful!! I can't wait to see more!

My son is going to Sydney in March. Is that at all close to you?

Wendy said...

Beautiful pics and poetry. I especially love the ocean. I can't believe they are not blurry! You certainly are good with your camera.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you're back and that you haver brought back such great pictures. You live in such a beautiful country !!! Must have been great to see all this from the back of a motor.
Have a wonderful weekend.