Henry Lawson wrote of struggle, pain, loneliness, sacrifice, the underprivileged, down-trodden and the battler, but he heralded the arrival of a modern and triumphant Australia.
He would surely buy some PIO shares if he any coin after a bender, and may have written something like this.
The Little Aussie Battler
I'm lying on the floor, all bruised and broken,
Dunno if my heart can take much more.
I've got no spirits to rise,' too knocked up to fight,
Oh the fires of HC, words filled with venom.
I'll go a’tramping in the outback, a’tramping, a’tramping.
I’ll head for PIO country, eyes down low, a‘looking, a’looking.
Slush, heat, flies, thirst my companions,
I’ll go a’tramping, a’tramping, and a’tramping.
I’ll live worse than any dog, but I saw Spod last time,
That rock of salvation, God’s gift to man.
I’ll find that hillside, home to spear grass, snake and dingo,
And as sure as the sun it rises, with Spod I will return.
Adapted from Henry Lawson’s Poem: Knocked Up.
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