We Are Australian

I come from the dreamtime

From the dusty red soil plains

I am the ancient heart

The keeper of the flames

I stood upon the rocky shore

I watched the tall ships come

For forty thousand years I’ve been

The first Australian

I came upon the prison ships

Bound down by iron chains

I’ve worked the land

Endured the lash

And waited for the rains

I’m a settler

I’m a farmer’s wife

On a dry and barren run

A convict and a free man

I became Australian

I’m the daughter of a digger

Who sought the mother load

The girl became a woman

On the long and dusty road

I’m a child of the Depression

I saw the good time come

I’m a bushy, I’m a battler

I am Australian

We are one

But we are many

And from all the lands on earth we come

We’ll share a dream

And sing with one voice

I am, you are, we are Australian

I’m a teller of stories

I’m a singer of songs

I am Albert Namatjira

And I paint the ghostly gums

I am Clancy on his horse

I’m Ned Kelly on the run

I’m the one who waltzed Matilda

I am Australian

I’m the hot wind from the desert

I’m the black soil of the plain

I’m the mountains and the valleys

I’m the drowned and flooding rains

I am the rock

I am the sky

The rivers when they run

The spirit of this great land

I am Australian

We are one

But we are many

And from all the lands on earth we come

We’ll share a dream

And sing with one voice

I am, you are, we are Australian