Clip description
Dorothea Mackellar recites the first stanza of her most famous poem, recorded in 1958.
Curator’s notes
One interesting aspect of the recording is Mackellar’s accent, which retains traces of Scottish pronunciation. Her ancestors were indeed Scots, but she was a third-generation Australian. It is possible that this is part of her ‘performance’ of the poem, rather than her natural accent. She is certainly giving a performance: note the way she rolls her ‘r’s. The Scots burr can be heard distinctly in the way she says ‘brown’. It’s likely that Mackellar was influenced by Scottish romantic and patriotic poetry in the way she approached ‘My Country’. We are indebted also to this recording for telling us the correct pronunciation of the poet’s name – she calls herself Doro-thea, not Doro-thee.
This is Dorothea Mackellar.
'My Country’
The love of field and coppice, of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance, brown streams and soft, dim skies-
I know but cannot share it, my love is otherwise.
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