CCXXII
THE BIRTH OF AUSTRALIA
Not ’mid the thunder of the battle guns,
Not on the red field of an Empire’s wrath,
Rose to a nation Australasia’s sons,
Who trod to greatness Industry’s pure path.
Behold a people through whose annals runs
No damning stain of falsehood, force or wrong,—
A record clear as light, and sweet as song,
Without one page the patriot’s finger shuns!
Where ’mid the legends of old Rome, or Greece,
Glows such a tale? Thou canst not answer, Time!
With shield unsullied by a single crime,
With wealth of gold and still more golden fleece,
Forth stands Australia, in her birth sublime,—
The only nation from the womb of Peace!
Percy Russell.
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