The Prospector (1906)
Here's a song for the sturdy prospector,For the men who have blazed the track ;
For the men who have borne the hardships,
And have opened the Fields--Out Back. With a supply that was scant they started,
With the pick and the water-bag ;
And they have fought against perils and hardships
When the bravest of hearts might have flagged. Where the sun, like a fiery furnace.
Strikes the earth with a merciless glare,
Till all hut the iron-like mulga
Has crumbled and died in despair. Where the scorching wind howls o'er the ridges.
And the dust clouds are driven ahead ;
Where the landscape's a glaring red desert--
Like the ghost of a world that is dead. They have fossicked away without ceasing--
They are men with the patience of Job ;
They have suffered a hundred reverses
In search of a payable lode. Now the trains rush into the desert,
Where cities have sprung up like maize ;
And the thundering stampers sing peans
Of the men of the earlier days. And the rattle and din of the traffic
All day through the hurrying streets
Re-echoes in praise of the heroes--
The heroes who knew not defeat. Then, cheer ye the sturdy prospectors,
'The men who have blazed the track ;
Who have conquered drought, heat and privation,
And have opened the Fields--Out Back. July 28.----- TWILIGHT. Notes From the Western Australian Newspaper The Geraldton Express 22 Aug 1906 p. 4.