Old Wannon Poem by Francis Duggan

How old is this Country would anyone know
The old brown paddocks where Wannon does flow
On towards the Pacific many miles away
It ripples and babbles by night and by day

It was old in the age of the dinosaur and the dreaming time
This old Land that has inspired story and rhyme
The old Wannon has flowed forever and will forever more
Through the old brown country to the Pacific shore

In Summer by the banks of the river in the shade of the trees
Australia's first people danced their corroborees
But what used to be is no longer so
As they danced their last dance many centuries ago

In the home of the corella and white cockatoo
And the shy bush wallaby and grey kangaroo
In paddocks many miles from the nearest big town
Old Wannon flows onwards in waters of brown

Long before Australia's first dancers danced to the sound of the didgeridoo
And even long before the birth of the first kangaroo
Old wannon in the brown country did flow
And how old is Australia would anyone know?