The Powlett In Flood Poem by Francis Duggan

From the hilly paddocks the Powlett rushes down
Swollen by stormwater bank high muddy brown
And down in the flat lands it slows and spills out
And covers the paddocks in water for acres about.

'Tis not a great waterway that of we speak
Some call it a river and some call it a creek
But in flood from the Bass coast highway a sight for to see
The paddocks submerged in flood waters a mile out from the sea.

Long before Human Beings of South Gippsland did know
The Powlett downland to the ocean did flow
Through paddocks and by hedgerows where all through the Spring
The wild birds of Nature do whistle and sing.

It will never be known as a great waterway 'twould seem
It has been called a river a creek or a stream
But the Powlett in flood a marvellous sight to see
With the paddocks covered in water a mile out from the sea.