• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

The Making of a Nation [poem by Agnes L. Storrie]

29 April 2013 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by Agnes L. Storrie was published in Poems, 1909.]

The Making of a Nation.

Not by rearing fairy arches,
Decked with flowers a day shall fade;
Not by flinging myriad banners
Forth from tower and colonnade;

Not by feasts and shows and pastimes,
Fitting though such revels be;
Not by words of adulation
Poured from lands across the sea;

Not by these — a moment’s trifles,
Brilliant, but of little worth —
Not by these shall we who love her
Celebrate our Nation’s birth.

Deeper, deeper, past these baubles
And this proud and high acclaim
Beats a mighty heart that quivers
At the naming of her name,

And a low and strenuous murmur,
Like a surely rising flood,
Tells the passionate awakening
Of the true Australian blood.

We who love her! We who love her!
Where and what and who are we?
Sweep your hand from Moreton Island
Till it meets the westward sea.

And from Torres Straits to Bruni,
From the Leeuwin to Mackay,
Wheresoe’er you go you’ll find us;
Call us, you shall have reply.

What are we who love Australia?
This the future shall reveal;
Yet, let every heart remember
Single worth makes common weal.

Who are we that love Australia?
Let a foe from near or far
Lift a hand to wound or shame her
And discover who we are.

Not by vain and idle boasting,
Not by wild, impetuous deeds,
But by steady, high endeavour
Shall we fitly serve her needs.

Honesty in hall and household,
Honour in the public mart,
Individual worth of purpose,
Purity of lip and heart.

These our flags for her adorning,
These her wreaths of deathless bloom,
These the jewelled lamps to guide her
And her upward path illume.

We who love her! God hath lavished
At her feet all earthly good,
Ours it is to make and keep her
Worthy of her Nationhood.



Source:
Agnes L. Storrie. Poems, J. W. Kettlewell, Sydney, 1909, pages 157-159

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Agnes L. Storrie (1864-1936) (author), patriotic poetry, poem, Poems (Agnes L. Storrie 1909), SourceArchiveOrg, year1909

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Dee from Invercauld [postcard, 28 August 1913]
  • Sydney Town Hall [postcard, 20 June 1913]
  • Flinders Lane, Melbourne [postcard, 26 April 1913]
  • Have you ever had a dream like this [postcard, 15 April 1913]
  • A loving greeting [postcard, 15 April 1913]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Australian slang
  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in