Since I Was Last In The Coorong Poem by Francis Duggan

The Coorong of South Australia where only salt bush grow
Around the sunlit salt pans as white as new fallen snow
Upon a stunted gum tree in a voice guttural and slow
The long drawn out cawing of a dark pale eyed crow
Where Australia's first people hunted and fished centuries ago
Their ancestors had lived in the Coorong for sixty thousand years or so
But time brings about changes as the wise one does say
No black tribes in the Coorong for to hunt and fish today
Since i was last in the Coorong more than a few Seasons have gone by
On pursuit of flying insects the dark swallows chirped in the sunny sky
The nearest human dwelling from where i was far away
And of white salt pans gleaming in the sunshine the memory with me stay
On a very warm day in February of thirty eight degrees
And very little relief from the heat in the timid coastal breeze.