Poetry - Tiger Battalion

Fair Dinkim Mate

If you’re a True Blue Aussie, then talk the way we do.
Like "Stone the Crows" and “Ridgy Didge” and “Ow ya goin' Blue”.
Waltz along Matildas and sing of Gundagai,
Talk about the swagmen and eat the big meat pie.

If you’ve never humped a Bluey, or thrown a boomerang,
And never eaten damper, with Vegemite or jam;
If you’ve never seen the "Outback", from Bourke to Timbuktu,
Then sorry mate, but you can’t be, a “Dinkum Real True Blue”.

Aussie blokes and sheilas, are “Bonza” through and through,
They’ve camped down by a “Billabong”, and played a Didgeridoo;
They drive around in Holdens', and go to “Two-Up Schools”,
They play the game of Rugby League, and a lot of "Aussie Rules".

Aussies live “Down Under”, and are very proud of that.
They’ve fought in many battles, and wear the old "Slouch Hat";
They’ve fished the Murrumbidgee, and burnt the “Gidgee Tree”.
They’ve hunted “Crocs” at “Walkabout” with Crocodile Dundee.

Have you heard the Kookaburras laugh, and the Curlews when they cry,
The Goannas scamper up a tree, and the “Roos” go bounding by;
Have you seen the signs of nature, in Australia’s Great Outback,
From Darwin to “The Alice”, and down The Birdsville Track?

Have you ever sailed in Moreton Bay, or surfed at Bondi Beach,
Have you ever caught a Melbourne Tram, or walked down Flinders Street;
Have you journeyed to The Darling Downs, or crossed “The Great Divide”,
And travelled on “The Nullarbor” to reach the other side?

Have you been to Tumbarumba, shooting “Kanga Bloody Roos”,
Have you been down to “The Local” for a night out on “The Booze”;
Have you travelled The Pacific, The Bruce, The Sturt and Hume,
Have you ever seen “The Min-Min Light”, and been across to Broome?

If you’re a "Dinkum Aussie", and done what Aussies do,
You must be feeling very proud, to be a real "True Blue";
No matter what part of Australia, The north, south, east or west,
By being a "Fair Dinkum Aussie", you’re one of the world's very best.

mal-1

© Mal Lyons
D Company Vietnam 1st Tour

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