resford News G
$2.50
The
September 2023
News of the communities of the Paterson and Allyn River Valleys
Dorothea
MACKELLAR OBE
I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of drought and flooding rains, I love her far horizons, I love her jewel sea, Her beauty and her terror The wide brown land for me. Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky, When, sick at heart, around us We see the cattle die But then the grey clouds gather, And we can bless again The drumming of an army, The steady soaking rain.
T
(1885-1968)
hese words have echoed across school classrooms and the minds of generations of Australians since they were written by Dorothea Mackellar in 1908. She wrote them in England while yearning for her Australian homeland, the words reflecting her childhood experiences on her family’s country properties at Gunnedah, and here in Gresford. Her father, a Sydney physician and member of the Legislative Council, owned Torryburn, just to the south of Gresford, from 1898 to 1901. Dorothea holidayed on these properties and recorded her observations of nature in her journal. Her experiences on the western plains at Gunnedah and the steep mountainous lands of the Paterson Valley, with pockets of rainforest and rushing rivers, inspired her to write “I Love A Sunburnt Country”. Dorothea’s references to drought-breaking reflect her experiences at Torryburn when the rains finally came.
Produced by Dungog Regional Tourism with the support of Paterson Historical Society, Gresford and District Historical Society, Gresford Community Group and Dungog Shire Council. 2023. Design by Barrington Coast Publishing Pty Ltd. Funded by the NSW Government Regional Growth, Environment and Tourism Fund. Anderson, V., Hunter, C. and Daniels, V. (2016) The Dorothea Mackellar My Country Paterson Valley Connection. Paterson Historical Society
One of the 12 History Information Boards that Dungog Regional Tourism is about to install across Dungog Shire. See story page 9 inside
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