Time and time again, remote Australia is ignored and forgotten --- and yet so much of our wealth has come from there. Even those corporates who grow fat on The Outback tend to ignore it too. I have spent a fair slice of my life in remote Australia on the Barkly Tableland - on both Queensland side and Territory side. Its spirit is embedded in me, a part of me, a part of my persona.
Thank you, Paul Quinlan for this poem.
Hope you are keeping well and busy.
The photo below is by Keith Vipond
and is published on Tennant Creek Friends.
Tennant does have some wonderful sunsets
and this site is one of the best places to view them.
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LET'S GET IT RIGHT.
It's not the town that makes the people,
but the people that make the town,
I've seen them come, and also go,
and the weak ones left with a frown.
Some have lived here more than 50 years
they have seen happy times , and also the tears
not like those that pack up, and leave
they work for the town in which they believe.
Some came with only the shirt upon their back
looking for a fortune somewhere up the track
they stopped at this oasis , known as Tennant Creek'
met some of the locals, and stayed a bloody week.
They found some work, and said "I think I'll stay".
then in no time had their own business on the way
Electricians, plumbers, fencers, welders, and the like
along with their women, didn't cheat or pike.
A fair days work for what it was worth
these ones were the salt of this earth
some of them you'll never know
they sadly passed on some time ago.
There's still many friendly people living here
that hold this little town so dear
so if you find yourself down, and out one day
befriend a local , and you may even stay.
Quino 2006
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