Mildura

Where the sunlight, burning down,
   Lights her luscious orange groves,
Lights the river and the town;
   Where the placid Murray roves;
Where each shining summer gives
   Life to loveliness serene;
Here the tropic lady lives
   'Mid her almost tropic scene.

Palm trees spreading to the sun,
   Dusk of lemon, sheen of vine;
Vitamin and vigor won
   And imprisoned, till the wine,
Gushing from the purple grape
   In the press, allows again
Golden sunlight to escape -- 
   These the dower of her domain.

Gay and glad and vigorous,
   Winning wealth from summertime,
Glorious gifts she gleans for us
   Dwellers in a colder clime;
Conjuring from her kindly earth
   Golden fruits to give men joy --
Well this lady knows the worth
   Of her Arcadian employ.

Tropic lady!  Well she knows
   Whence her brave abundance comes.
Wealth, where her broad river flows,
   Bordered by its spreading gums;
Comes with waters winding down
   From the cold lands of the east,
Suffering her sun-kissed town
   To spread for us a kingly feast.