I come from the dreamtime
From the dusty red soil plains
I am the ancient heart
The keeper of the flames
I stood upon the rocky shore
I watched the tall ships come
For forty thousand years I've been
The first Australian
I came upon the prison ships
Bound down by iron chains
I've worked the land
Endured the lash
And waited for the rains
I'm a settler
I'm a farmers wife
On a dry and barren run
A convict and a free man
I became Australian
I'm the daughter of a digger
Who sought the mother load
The girl became a woman
On the long and dusty road
I'm a child of the Depression
I saw the good time come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler
I am Australian
We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We'll share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian
I'm a teller of stories
I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira
And I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse
I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda
I am Australian
I'm the hot wind from the desert
I'm the black soil of the plain
I'm the mountains and the valleys
I'm the drowned and flooding rains
I am the rock
I am the sky
The rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land
I am Australian
We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We'll share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian
We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We'll share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian
I am, you are, we are Australian
♪
Yes, the power of the right lyrics and the right melody
To help us collectively express something
That's usually very private and we never talk about
But some of that just makes us all feel, uh, feel pretty good
There's a couple of other things that make us feel pretty good tonight, too
Apart from, thank you, you're all here with us
We just found out that today
That the album and the video that we have out at the moment
Well especially the album, really
We know that the video has already gone
But it was our 68 concert for the BBC in London in black and white
And the soundtrack from it we released for this tour
And we're delighted to tell you that this week
It's just gone into the Top 20 at number twelve
Can't keep a good group down, can you?
So if anyone's bought it, thank you, if you're gonna buy it, double thank you
No, we're thrilled and, uh
The other thing that makes us feel good in a package of these next three songs
Two in fact, I think, are on that video
Because the second and the third songs you will certainly know
They were B-Sides to two of our biggest ever hit singles
And they got as much airplay as the singles themselves
So we regard them as big hits, and you'll certainly know them
The first song of the trio is a little bit different, 'cause it's one of those early songs
We used to have a lot of fun with, because when we first sat down together
We didn't know the verses to all these great gospel songs
So we'd sing the chorus' in lusty fashion but we sorta had to be creative with the verses
You'll get the drift, here's the song
Quaintly entitled, "Let the Light from the Lighthouse Shine on Me"