Dorothea McKellar
Born 1885 
Died 1968
"Despite the many difficulties and setbacks the evocation is Australia as the land that pays us back threefold."
Not a lot of international people would know of Dorothea Mackellar unless they were big poetry buffs. In Australian circles however, her poetry is taught to children in primary school as young as 10 and a half years of age.
Dorothea was born in Sydney, the third of four children to the Mackellar family. Her family was rather wealthy and well established in the city of Sydney, so Dorothea was educated privately at the University of Sydney. Her family also owned some substantial properties in the Gunnedah district of the state of New South Wales. It is to this day that this little town has claimed Dorothea as one of their own and has erected a statue of Dorothea on horseback in her honour.
One of Dorothea's talents, when writing about the county of Australia, was writing from the heart. She could capture the contrasts, both subtle and extreme of the land that she loved. Her most famous piece entitled "My Country" does this best of all. In describing the contrasts between the different landscapes and conditions of Australia as well as the beauty and terror of working the land, she poetically captured the essence of Australia.
If you were to bump into a Australian with a very good memory, or one who was a poetry buff, I’m sure that they would be able to quote a couple of verses of this, one of Australia’s more famous written pieces. I will finish this brief biography of this poet with the most famous stanza out of this piece, the one that to any Australian or foreigner alike, says out loud...this is Australia, my beautiful home, or home away from home.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!
Biography by Melody
Submitted on 10.23.03