Remember When

By Russell Noakes © 2009

Remember when in childhood days
The nation’s questions did but confound,
And a man with principle in his heart
Brought ideas and thought and reason to every answer found.

Remember when they drew the marbles,
And frightened young men rued their very birth,
And in Vung Tau they raised the seven pointed star
Above a napalm blistered Earth.

Remember when they sent the men to save the oil;
And the distance of the ships from war? Oh, a good five hundred miles!
And, undaunted, the union man told them all;
... that’s two minutes by missile.

Remember when they locked the gates.
And amid the children’s tears,
hooded men brought dogs and chains,
And the Government brought the fear.

Honest John and all his running dogs
Have gone by history’s way,
But the words of our brother, uncle, comrade live on:
"The MUA will be here to stay".

Remember thus that evil prospers
When good men do little more than nought.
And in the face of great injustice,
‘twas Jimmy Bourne who stared them down; and he beat the bloody lot.

Song of Australia

By Russell Noakes © 2010
(a reworking of the original by Caroline J. Carleton)

Founded in antiquity
United in one destiny,
A Commonwealth of liberty, oh liberty.
And freedom's flame shines in the night,
A guardian, a guiding light.
A silver cross in azure bright;
Rejoice, rejoice Australia!

Cherished for eternity,
From desert rose to shining sea,
A proud flag waves exultingly, exultingly.
And by the Southern Cross declare,
No chains shall bind this nation rare,
Fairest of lands Australia fair.
Rejoice, rejoice Australia!