Artist: Ruby Davis
Because we remember
the fish
the ducks
the gum trees
the floods
the swimming
the old people:
We will fight them on the bare river banks
and in the algal blooms
on the weirs
and in the irrigation ditches.
The river demands to be
a leisure river
mocking time
not a workaholic
not a slave
not even a working class hero
or any other type of cannon fodder
especially not a globalised
neoliberal river.
Never will we allow
the Darling to become
a free trade river.
Rather
a ‘fair go’ river
sounds better
perhaps even
a ‘fair flow’ river
as wild and free
as we can let it be.
Peter Thompson 3rd May 2005
Inland Rivers Network 