The universal serpent wept
when it foretold,
that things will change,
wept, not tears of sorrow
but raindrops of fertility
yet we were never here
to hear.

and when there was man
there were no rules
yet there were the strictest of rules,
Our mob lived next to other mobs
without hindrance,
for over 60,000 years
we lived as one

until we didn’t see

We, the mobs, wouldn’t believe our eyes
when the tall ships came,
they ignored them,
I once was told.

“We found no cities,
we found no armies,
we found no commerce
and no sign of a colonial settlement,
the land was free to take”,
we thought.
There was now a New Mob in town.

Like aliens
from some other planet to you now,
these ships, to our mob, were the same –
strange floating buildings that the wind had brought.
So they took the land and leached it fast
before someone else would take it from them.

“We took it in name of King and Queen,
we raise a toast
to the new fortunes we
may make with our Old World values
in this New Land.
Thank you oh Mighty Monarch!”

The ships made land
and took a stand,
this New Mob – the Pilgrims,
the Soldiers, The Slaves and The Freemen,
tried to make a go of things
and after miserable months
which turned to years,
found hope when
eventually seed took to land
and it became fertile.
It was then the New Mob grew mighty fast,
and soon there were
too many of the buggers.

“What!?
No water?
Give me rum,
I need the Rum”

Laws! Hah!
came with settlement,
yet outback was tough
and the Rum Soldiers turned blind eyed
to anything out of the city (and in)
– sweat and toil for the land-miners
was their own business.

In between Dirt and Dust,
everywhere was Woop Woop,
a quick trip somewhere for the New Mob,
All was days of hard slog,
it was either Yakka or Slog,
whichever you did,
was hard as Hell.

You get Snake-bite
and there’s miles to go for the doctor,
“just one mile more before I die”.
One mile to Whirlie,
a million to the rest of the damned world.
That’s White Fellah’s problems.
The Old Mob, they knew how
not to get bitten in the first place.

You could tell
the prosperity of a town
by the size of its pub,
the grander it was,
the bigger the plunder nearby,
the worse our Mob were off.

The New Mob loved it when they had water.
They would hold onto it
and let no-one else near it
without payin’ for it.
Yeah, water.
With water came rivers of wealth,
yet dread the days when rivers went dry
and even worse when rivers ran over.
It was either Flood,
or it was Famine
or it was Fine Fortune for the New Mob.

They built these mad looking towers,
with lines joining them.
Said they carried electricity and news. Electricity and News was power.
And with power came power,
and those that cared took it on,
these Power blokes
they were called Politicians
and crooks.

And yet amongst the hard yarders,
the road makers,
the timber-fellers,
the farmers and the water-carriers,
there was a day of rest, for some,
while others belted it out
amongst themselves on footy fields,
showing that the locals
were better than the outsiders.
Proud displays of the finest lads
of each town was an essential.

Amongst the many churches built,
none was greater than
the greatest cathedral of them all, the mighty Church of the Ball.
The way to your enlightenment
was through his worship,
and the masses swallowed it whole.

From Holy Days to Holidays,
rewards from generation to jeneration grew larger
and never more deservedly so,
boy was it tough being young
in this brand new land…

Wooden ships were now of metal
Global Enterprise was rife
amongst the New Mobs and towns,
the scale of which had never been seen –
Nations traded in goods and someone
got richer but no-one knew who,
because in reality,
every nation owed.

Yet not all was fine.
As the surface shone,
the underlying fabrics of the
doona cover of life
was beginning to rot once more,
our mob was getting wary
of all the other mobs
and that’s when things were getting scary.

There were the Olympics
and then there were the races,
the race to do the other tribe in,
and Oppenheimer won that one
and when Japan had lost two cities,
Mankind had lost its kind.

“Remember those our fallen,
Lest We Forget”
and forget those who survived, they can look after themselves
and the dead were honoured in avenues
a tribute to young sons.

It took a Great War to give a peace
and settle all the lands,
idyllic days and comforting growth
was a fine dinner to share
while scars healed over
and we wouldn’t mention the war.

As ashes settled,
the war had not ended,
it had gone underground
amongst the dead embers,
insanity still gurgled
its bloody dying urges,
and we above knew nothing
and didn’t really care.

We chased the Sun,
the Moon and stars
our lives were fun once more
we could see a future
instead of bloody war.

It wasn’t too long
before our thrust at leisure
began to take on an imaginary existence.
Intelligence was becoming artificial,
just like our lives
The verdict was official.

Perception of life had changed
we could be or go
or have anything we desired
now that the portal of
a hidden universe
was scientifically uncovered.

And we sang to The Dawn of Aquarius
it was now upon us
and as it happened 2000 years ago,
one religion was moved on
to another set of beliefs,
we now see the Dawn
of The New Messiah.

And on our watch
with heads a-turned
Our world began to burn,
as we had forgotten the rules set down
of 60,000 years,
the book of harmonic relationships,
Earth was now in the hearth.

Are we to abandon this world?
the doomsayers now cry
And so preparations are made to find other worlds to oblige,
just in case on this one blue dot
we began to fry.

And there we are
afloat again,
in ships we cannot believe,
while our heroes search for New Enterprizes,
we stay upon this land
greedily consuming and condemning it
like a stupid endless virus,
trying to keep the Shareholders happy.