Progress

Cattle trucks drive highways now where drovers once held sway Heavy rigs of chrome and steel replaced the horse and dray Gravel tracks of rich red earth that rambled near and far Have disappeared forever ‘neath miles of hot black tar The billabong by shady gums stands empty cracked and dry The thirst of modern farms it seems lets river systems die The campfires of the cattle men that used to dot the plains No longer flicker in the night no sign of them remains Bush ballads sing of sweeping plains where brumbys still run free Of wild unharnessed rivers and clear inviting seas But brumbys fall as feral pests the rivers drained and dry The sea is choked with sewage where fish and sea grass die As the romance of the outback begins to fade away We learn that progress has a price we’ve all been forced to pay. From my PDF book "Bush Ballads and Bulldust"