The Coorong Rose Poem by Francis Duggan

For the past twenty of her fifty years she's lived in Port Adelaide
And every day in the old Town a new friend she has made
Her nickname is 'The Coorong Rose' from the coastal lands from where she came
And she is one who doesn't take offence to be called by her nickname.

Her ancestors have lived in this Land for sixty thousand years or more
And she is one who doesn't have ties to any foreign shore
A dark haired woman with dark brown skin and eyes equally brown
More Australian than her you'd not meet in any Australian Town.

In the old Port Mall a well known face she's a familiar sight
And she says hello to everyone even to strangers black, brown or white
And she's loved by everyone who know her the smiling Coorong Rose
The woman from the coastal lands where only saltbush grows.

The last twenty of her fifty years spent in Port Adelaide
And every day of every year a new friend she has made
Port Adelaide her adopted Town though the Coorong her spiritual place
And in the old Town by the sea her's a familiar face.