[Editor: A song written in 1827, to the tune of “Patrick’s Day”, for the celebration of the founding of New South Wales. Published in The Monitor, 3 February 1827.]
[Australia’s Birth-day]
The following Paraphrase on one of Moore’s National Melodies, arranged expressly for the occasion, was sung by Mr. A. Hill, at the late Anniversary Dinner. We have been requested to publish it.
AIR — PATRICK’S DAY.
Beaming bright are our prospects, our sorrows retiring
Leave our bosoms enlighten’d with hope’s cheering ray;
The birth-right of Britons still warmly desiring —
Then fondly we’ll hail the bright favour’d day!
But just as the morn-star
Is seen from afar,
The harbinger bright of the opening day,
So Liberty’s dawn,
Illumines our morn,
And sheds joy o’er our hearts like the summer sun’s beam;
A joy ’tis — that shines with a permanent ray —
But tho’ ’twere the last spark that in our souls gleam,
We’ll light it up now on AUSTRALIA’S Birth-day!
Contempt on the Minion! that calls us disloyal!
Tho’ fierce to our foes, to our friends we are true!
And the tribute most high to the head that is royal,
Is, love from the heart that loves LIBERTY too!
Tho’ Envy may blight,
Our fame and birth-right,
Who’d shrink in the contest for Liberty’s sway?
The dawning of Freedom,
Onward briskly shall lead ’em,
Oh! my life on your faith! were you summon’d this minute,
You’d cast ev’ry bitter remembrance away —
And shew what the heart of a Briton has in it,
When call’d on to act on AUSTRALIA’S birth-day!
Our attachment to Freedom, (for ages recorded,)
In rising Australia we will not forget;
For our hopes may be crown’d, our attachment rewarded,
And the bright Sun of Freedom illumine us yet!
Its gem may be broke,
By many a stroke,
But nothing can cloud its native ray!
Each fragment will cast,
A light to the last;
And, land of adoption! thou choice of my heart!
There’s a spirit within thee that ne’er will decay!
There’s a lustre resplendent that shines through each part,
And we’ll light it up now, on AUSTRALIA’S birth-day !
H
Source:
The Monitor (Sydney, NSW) Saturday 3 February 1827, page 299 [3rd page of that issue]
Leave a Reply