In tales about Australia, of the pioneering days,
We're filled with admiration for the men who paved the ways,
How men opened up this country, exploring far and wide,
So here's some praise, long overdue, for the woman at his
side.
She may have been a simple lass, or a city girl, well bred,
Their lives would travel parallel, as their life's path they did
tread,
She was skilled in all things needed, for a life upon the land,
She learned them at her mother's knee, passed down from
hand to hand.
She'd rise before the daylight, to get her chores begun,
The bread would be well under way, to greet the rising sun,
The children needed feeding, and her man must set to work,
T'would be a long long day today, and this she'd never shirk.
She'd saved the flour bags to sew, some clothes her kids
could wear,
The meat would need a salting down, and supper to prepare,
She'd dig the garden, chop some wood, and keep the fire
burning,
And after milking, then the chore, to get the butter churning.
Pancakes on the griddle iron, at the setting of the sun,
Her family fed and bedded down, her daily chores all done,
She sits a while by candlelight, with mending on her knee,
And smiles as she remembers days, when she was young
and free.
With embers low, it's time to take a well earned rest at last,
He holds her in his loving arms, and they talk about the past,
Of how they've worked together, these memories they'll keep,
Tomorrow is another day, they drift wearily to sleep.
The toughest men were needed, to build a life out bush,
Their deeds are well recorded, of their pioneering push,
But spare a moment now and then, to think about their life,
They'd scarce survived those lonely days, if it wasn't for
the wife.
Poem written by Birdie.
3rd December, 2000
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