[Editor: This poem by Louis Esson was published in Red Gums and Other Verses (1912).]
The Never Never.
Beyond the shearing shed, the final station,
Beyond the desert sands of desolation
Where lost sundowners tramp;
Beyond prospector’s tent, and track of drover,
Or Myall’s boomerang, men still discover
There is one further camp.
* * *
Beyond the world — the track is never ended —
Back o’ the sunset, there the region splendid
The Unknown, lures men ever,
Greedy for ampler dreams the seekers wander
Scornful of life, to an Eternal Yonder
To find the Never Never.
Source:
Louis Esson, Red Gums and Other Verses, Melbourne: Fraser & Jenkinson, 1912, page 30
Editor’s notes:
myall = an uncivilized or wild person (from the Aboriginal word “miyal” for stranger); may also refer to an acacia tree (wattle tree), especially the Acacia pendula (weeping myall)
Never Never = remote and isolated sparsely-inhabited desert country in Australia (may be rendered with or without a hyphen)
Vernacular spelling in the original text:
o’ (of)
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