Lines on the Discovery of Gold in Australia [poem, 5 January 1852]

[Editor: A poem published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January 1852.]

Lines on the Discovery of Gold in Australia.

By E. S.

Land of Australia! once despised,
And shunn’d by men of moral worth,
Who shudder’d if thy children dared
To tread upon their chaster earth

Sons of Australia! ye may raise
The eyes that droop with honest shame,
To see thy dear, thy native land
Bound with an outcast’s heavy chain.

For gold! bright gold! will soon restore
The freedom and the fame ye need —
Freedom from scorn, and fame from those
Who’ll gladly to thy shores proceed.

Thy virtuous sons might struggle long
To wash away the dross of crime;
Honour and worth could not achieve
What gold has wrought in this brief time.

Fair daughters of this southern clime!
Ye need not veil the blushing cheek
If e’er ye roam to other lands —
But proudly of your country speak.

Not that it should be loved the more
Because enriched with gems and gold;
Leave this low thought for sordid hearts
Who for its wealth their views have sold.

For cold indeed must be that heart
That warms not to the spot of earth
Where first it breathed — whate’er her faults
Still dear — for ’tis its Land of Birth.

Parramatta, January 1, 1852.

Source:
The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, NSW), 5 January 1852, p. 2