The Brimless hat
A poem about drought in Australia
On the upper reaches
of the Darling and the Murray
west of the Great Divide
life isn’t in a hurry.
Between Brewarrina and Bourke
junction the Culgoa and Barwon Rivers
streams and tributaries rise
above the takers and the givers.
The waters of southern Queensland
and northern New South Wales
in flood the rivers fill
in drought the water fails.
The mighty Murray Darling
one of the largest river systems
drains all of New South Wales
with some winners and the victims.
The lifeblood of the country
managed perfectly until
white man colonised the land
planting his bitter pill.
Of indiscriminate water use
and the artificial damming
the quagmires and mud flats
and the felled logs jamming.
Natural ecosystems
man cannot replicate
are squandered and left bleeding
too hard to regulate.
Mans management of nature
so often just falls flat
the classical Murray Darling
is now left like a brimless hat.
©
David Rudder
10th June 2020
Thanks for reading.
