Where Silence Reigns
These descriptive words for the Great Australian Outback were written by W.A.Woods ( 1861 – 1939) the pseudo name of John Drayman, and we have attached a short quote of his early life. I will add that a few years ago we had an e-mail from his relatives to say that they had heard that his poem had been set to music. Originally it is a much longer poem and I found it published in the ‘Australian Bush Ballads’ by Stewart and Keesing first published in 1955 and well worth a good look at. I have taken bits out of the verses and hopefully maintained the essence of the poem with the atmosphere of the Great Outback. When ever I feel a longing for the Australian Outback, I sing this song to myself to transport me back there and thereby save a great deal on an airfare.
As a young man, he travelled through the Riverina, New South Wales, searching for work as a shearer, an experience which he commemorated in verse using the pseudonym ‘John Drayman’.
WHERE SILENCE REIGNS
Words W.A. Woods [ John Drayman } Tune M.Wyndham-Read
Outback where silence reigns on those great grey Western Plains
The sunlit plains of Clancy’s where it seldom ever rains
Where the traveler ’s always thirsty and the water never near
And the creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear.
Where the quart pot doesn’t rattle and the stirrup doesn’t clink
And the emu stalks in freedom and it’s far too hot to think
Where the tracks are dry and dusty and the air is seldom clear
The creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear.
Where the fences reach to sundown and are mostly made of wire
And the sun goes down each evening like a glowing ball of fire
Where the water bag is empty and the tucker dry and drear
The creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear.
In shades of gidgee bushes lies a great red kangaroo
Asleep in the noon day sunshine while a doleful looking crow
With a voiceless gape salutes us as we come and disappear
And the creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear.
In sultry shades of silence bounded by a shimmering sky
Makes a man feel very lonely very small and very dry
I would cry in desolation but I cannot shed a tear
And the creaking of the saddle is the only sound you hear.