Those Ancient Hills Of Archies Creek Poem by Francis Duggan

Upon a gum tree by the creek the white backed magpie sing
On those old hills of Archies Creek that are so green in Spring
Those hills that in warm Summer days when the sun glows in the sky
Will have lost their beautiful wild flowers and look rather brown and dry.

On those ancient hills of Archies Creek there once were many trees
And not even a photograph now left to recall the memories
Of how it looked in days of yore two hundred years ago
For eight hundred seasons of so called progress is there that much to show?

On those ancient hills in the Dreamtime the black hunters did pursue
The wild creatures their source of food the wallaby and roo
And they danced their corroberees around their camp fire and enjoyed their sing song
The first custodians of these hills the South Gippsland Bunurong.

If the first people came to life again they would think their country side quite strange
As those ancient hills of Archies Creek must have undergone great change
In the quiet of early morning the dawn is breaking gray
And on a lone gum by the creek the magpie greets the day.