Where Only Saltbush Grow Poem by Francis Duggan

From the Victorian border through the Coorong a country in decay
And the salt pans of South Australia are growing by the day
You won't find many animals where only saltbush grow
And in the streams and rivers salt off the paddocks flow.

It's because of land mismanagement that the water table rise
And that saltbush is taking over ought be no great surprise
For tree removal and land clearance there is some price to pay
And the thin exposed top soils by the coastal winds have long been blown away.

Along the coastal Coorong few people nowadays live
A land where saltbush only grow much nourishment to man doesn't give
Even the once mighty Murray river not what it once used to be
Through Tailem Bend and Murray Bridge flow salty towards the sea.

The salt pan ridden Coorong a land as old as time
A land painted by great artists and that inspired bards to rhyme
Where the oldest race of human beings hunted centuries ago
Is now a salty wilderness where only saltbush grow.