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Bush Oratory
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The text of the Oration is reproduced below. OUTBACK ORATORY COMPETITION, I come from South Australia. In the 1800’s a surveyor called Goyder drew a line across the State dividing the arid from the not so arid areas. My husband and I bought a four wheel drive vehicle twenty years ago and we began to explore the Flinders Ranges. When we reached Goyder’s Line we would put on our Akubras – we were in the Outback. Since then I have travelled most of Australia. I no longer believe in Goyder’s Line – or the Black Stump - either the one at Blackall or the more pallid Victorian version. The Outback does not begin when you see the 110 km road sign or the first dead kangaroo or the first long drop loo. Most Australians cling to the coast. Can they forget the bush on their beaches and in their vast shopping malls? Never! A flock of galahs invades suburbia stripping the cultivated fruit trees; the anguished face of a back o’ Bourke farmer appears on the urban television screens; and on a 40 degree day in summer the city folk smell the scent of burning eucalyptus and look up and see a ring of fire around their familiar hills. The Outback comes to town. Patterson still sits in his dingy little office, dreaming of Clancy riding “where the Queensland drovers go.” Where does the Outback begin? The Outback has no finite beginning or any palpable end. It is entrenched in the heart and soul of every true Australian. You can travel to London, Rome or to Paris but the Outback will go with you. The strains of Waltzing Matilda will bring a tear to your eye, and pull your heartstrings home. There can be no escape. The Outback is part of the collective consciousness of us all. Put on your metaphorical Akubras fellow Australians, and wear them with pride. If you are an Aussie you will always be in the Outback! Margaret Visciglio |