The Australian Country is a wondrous place
full of marvelous people and scenery. Clancy
of the Overflow, written by Banjo Paterson, is a letter written to Clancy.
Paterson dreams of Clancy droving, where “…the bush hath friends to meet him,
and their kindly voices greet him…” Paterson at present is writing eternal
papers, in the city where “…the language [is] uninviting of the gutter children
fighting…” and the “dirty city…spreads its foulness over all.” He dreams of the
“splendid … sunlit plains extended, and at night the wondrous glory of the
everlasting stars.” The sunlit plains of My
Brilliant Career, where the dust, flies and the enormous fields create an
atmosphere of loneliness are a conflicting view. For Paterson, “…their pallid
faces haunt me as they shoulder one another in their rush…” contrasts with the
country because “the drover’s life has pleasures that the townsfolk never
know.” This is in stunning contrast to those characters, in My Brilliant Career who long for the
clean, well-dressed city-dwellers and their lifestyle. I believe, the rural
community is a unique place with a brilliant life-style to greet you.
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