By John Williamson

Why don't we go back to the sheep,
And leave this old lady alone.
We've pushed and we've pulled,
We've killed and we've mauled,
And there's nowhere to hide from the sun.
Why do we take more than we need,
What is this strange disease?
We turn everything we can see into money,
Damn the earth, damn the sky, damn the seas.

Why do we destroy so much life,
When we're more than flesh on the bone.
I jump in my truck, but I'm out o' luck
'Cause most of the trees have now gone.

(Take the) girls for a pony ride, show them the brigalow.
Like the hair on my face it was all over the place,
Eighty odd years ago,
(There's a) couple on the side of the road,
And one's got some kind of grub.
(There was) box and boonery, belah and black wallaby.
Ask the old bloke down the pub.
There was supple-jack and leopard wood,
Myall, Wilga and it goes on.
I jump in my truck, but I'm out o' luck,
'Cause most of the trees have now gone,
Most of the trees have now gone.

(So why) don't we go back to the wool,
Start keeping the whole world warm,
We've dug and we've dirted,
We've sprayed and we've squirted,
And it all floats away in the storm.
My life is just a flash in the dark, I know,
And I'm just a victim of fate,
Why was I born in this beautiful world,
Why was I born too late,
To walk in the virgin bushland,
Put damper and billy on,
I jump in my truck, but I'm out o' luck,
'Cause most of the trees are now gone
Most of the trees have now gone.

©1984 Emusic Pty. Ltd.

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RealAudio™ Sample of
TREES HAVE NOW GONE

"It is a fact that when we bought our farming land at Croppa Creek (North West NSW) in the 60's the NSW Government gave families a tax break on clearing. In other words the four dollars an acre spent on clearing we could claim as a farming expense even though it improved the land value by much more than that. Yes, we were encouraged to devastate the bush.

Even though my family decided to save 10% of our bush most families went ahead and knocked down just about everything. As I got to know and fall in love with the Brigalow, Belah, Wilga country I began to understand how the old sheep farmers felt seeing the native grasslands and beautiful bush destroyed. Devastation of that bushland has not stopped. It has been pushed further and further out. Now that it has finally dawned on our governments that this country was too marginal to cultivate it has left us with cleared land ripe for invasion by feral species like Box Thorn and Prickly Acacia. I hope that one day it will be reclaimed, by native grasses and the replanting of the magnificent variety of trees and shrubs unique to the areas concerned."