Innot Hot Springs
The buzz-words keep on coming like the locusts on the crop;
we thought we'd heard all angles but the workloads never drop.
"Diversify! Decentralise! Downsize or stultify!"
and the problems, like the locusts, multiply.
The profits in the rural towns are ebbing like the tide;
before they start to flow again the bank gets us offside
and pulls up stakes with half the population in its wake
and the country township's heart begins to break.
The governmental bodies whose objective is to serve us
move Postie and the Court and the district's getting nervous.
We know the end is looming when-we see the awful signs
as the railwaymen rip up their own lifelines.
Our backs are up against the wall, our minds click into gear:
our message must be publicised for all with ears to hear.
We polish up new skills we have that once we used to lack.
everyone is warned: the bush is fighting back!
We add up all our assets like that always-offered hand,
but economists don't count that like they do the price of land.
But what about our expertise, the skills and knowledge learned?
We're determined to have no stone left unturned.
Although the Flying Doctors and our School of Distance Ed
cut back the isolation in the bush, it must be said,
there's a need for men and women whose ideals and skills are sound
to teach and heal our kids in every town.
We can offer you a lifestyle you'll never find elsewhere -
there's landscape you'll see nowhere else and plenty round to share.
We haven't sat in limbo -we know all about the Net
and our e-mail is as good as you will get.
Our future is exciting despite signs that tell us not:
still we have a way to go but we haven't lost the plot.
We're enterprising people and co-operation's high
and we're learning that we must diversify .
We've spread in all directions as once we'd never dream
and discovered enterprises, achieved within a team.
We're reaching to the satellites which once we watched in awe
and the future stands ahead, an open door.
We call you with adventure in your souls to live with us,
to break from city boundaries, the fumes and all the fuss,
to join our close community in its splendid isolation
and help us raise another generation.
