Paterson's Curse Or Salvation Jane Poem by Francis Duggan

It grows in paddocks all around Australia
And blooms in mid Spring in the sun and rain
And Aussie farmers hate it with a vengeance
'Paterson's Curse or alias Salvation Jane'.

In purple blue flowers it cannot be mistaken
And in fertile lands it has been known to thrive
And though the farmers spray it with weed killer
Paterson's curse still stubbornly survive.

The tourists marvel at the wealth of beauty
The paddocks covered in their flowers of blue
But grass don't grow where the weeds have taken over
And green perhaps the farmers favourite hue.

Where paterson's curse grow livestock will not fatten
Because of course there is less grass to eat
In weed free farms the sheep and cattle fatter
The weed free lands produce good milk and meat.

On either side of the Victoria, New South Wales border
Paterson's curse in plentiful supply
The noxious weeds detested by the farmers
Though when flowering pretty to the passer by.

The bluish purple flowers look pretty to the tourists
But of Aussie farmers they surely are the bane
The weed referred to as Paterson's Curse by many
Whilst others know it as Salvation Jane.