FIVE MILLION SQUARE MILES . . .

FIVE MILLION SQUARE MILES OF ANCIENT LAND, POPULATION SPARSE
A LAND TORTURED BY FLOODS, FIRES, DROUGHT, BEARING IT'S SCARS
ENDLESS VISTAS, FAINT TRACKS ON LANDSCAPE OF MAN OR ANIMAL
SO REMOTE, FEW SIGNS OF HUMAN HABITATION, EVEN OF ABORIGINAL

WILD HORSES, BIRDS OF MANY COLOURS, WATER BUFFALO, CAMEL HERDS
FOSSILS OF EXTINCT ANIMALS THAT NEVER ANYWHERE ELSE OCCURED
ON ROCK FACES MANY CRUDE DRAWINGS BY EARLY ABORIGINAL MAN
DEPICTING HISTORY THROUGH THE AGES OF THIS WANDERING CLAN

SLOWY, SLOWLY, WHITE MAN CAME, WITH FORCE, STAKING HIS CLAIM
CONQUERING THE GREAT WILDERNESS, RAINFORESTS AND GIBBER PLAIN
TOWARDS HORIZON, FAR AWAY, NEVER COMING CLOSER, PROMISED LAND
BRINGING SHEEP, CATTLE, TAKING BIGGEST GAMBLE, OFTEN FATAL STAND

YEARS OF DROUGHT, FLOODS, FIRES, DESTROYING ALL, NOTHING LEFT
FRIGHTENING, SOUL DESTROYING, TOTALLY LEAVING ONE UTTERLY BEREFT IN SOME PLACES PEOPLE LIVE IN CAVES, COMFORTABLE, DEEP UNDERGROUND
TRYING TO ESCAPE THE RELENTLESS SUN'S HEAT, NEARLY ALL YEAR ROUND

A MAN'S COUNTRY, NOT A LIFE YOU'D SHARE WITH SOMEONE YOU LOVE
MILES FROM CIVILISATION, HUMAN BEINGS, WOMAN HAD TO TOUGH
THE INCONVENIENCE, RAISING CHILDREN, IN THIS HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
VERY FEW TAKING UP THE CHALLENGE, TOGETHER, AS ONE, WORKING LAND

FIVE MILLION SQUARE MILES, HEARTBREAKING, YET FULL OF NEVER ENDING HOPE UNBELIEVABLE HARDSHIPS, LONELINESS, PEOPLE LEARN SOMEHOW TO COPE
IT'S CALLED "THE OUTBACK", "THE NEVER NEVER", "THE BACK OF BEYOND"
SURVIVING, STRENGHTENING, NEVER EVER LETTING GO, INVINCEABLE BOND