Dorothea Mackellar OBE - Lady of Gunnedah

Mural in Waiting for My Country's Poet

Gunnedah's Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Society co-ordinates an annual national poetry contest for school children of all ages attracting 10,000 entries that honour the town's most famous lady. Her work is already remembered through a life size statue and a museum, but it was also felt a mural could add yet more to the memory. Future visitors should keep their eyes open.

Accordingly, Society Project Officers Vincent Wall and Rachel Trend contacted Karl Schutz and the Global Association for any guidance it could offer, hence this field visit.

Gunnedah has many other claims to fame but one of especial contemporary note is that koalas have started to move in there in large numbers, uninvited. Perhaps they too enjoy the poetry of Dorothea Mackellar, whose most famous work, My Country was first drafted in London when she was feeling homesick. [Not the same nostalgic inspiration nowadays with thousands of fellow Australians there in Kangaroo Valley with vegemite and XXXX widely available].

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