A TRUE AUSTRALIAN.
His name is Peter Andrews,he appeared on ‘Australian Story’
A man who for thirty years wasn’t seeking fame and glory,
All he wanted was recognition in the work he’d undertaken
To save the lifeblood of this land,which without,is godforsaken!
Is there anything more precious, as our history cruelly shows
Where repeated drought has always dealt the most savage crippling blows
And here was a man with answers, who was driven to chronic despair
Personal and financial, for daring to think outside the square.
His ideas, somewhat radical went against the status quo
The experts, the authorities, his theories they didn’t want to know,
But he was a man of passion, and quitting was never a thought
And for year after year with tenacity, all obstacles he fought.
Mad! he was called by those, who found it so alarming
When he had the affront to show them ‘natural sequence farming’
A system of slowing the water as it flows over the earth
That utilises to the utmost, the value of waters worth.
No crackpot ideas nor rain dances, or rods of divinity
A paradox though it well could be, that deals with salinity,
And restores earth to fertile soil, with all benefits related
And ‘pudding proof’ is on the farms where wetlands he has created.
Stubborn perseverance, albeit at great personal expense
Finally brought him backing, and support in his defence,
And hopefully the bureaucrats will follow it up, post haste
So this ‘true Ausralians’ vision, is not laid to barren waste!
And of national importance, is there anything more urgent
Than to make this fragile land, environmentally resurgent,
Here, a debt is owed to a man, who overcame despotic red tape
A resolute man, whose heart is at one, with Australian landscape!
© Ron Boughton. July 20000
