Judith Wright's "Australia 1970" passionately implores Australia's "wild country" to resist humanity's attempts to tame it. If the countryside is going to "die," it should die fighting to the bitter end like a ferocious animal. The poem fiercely denounces humankind's destruction of the environment and argues that people are ultimately harming themselves by refusing to respect the natural world—however inhospitable it may be. "Australia 1970" was published in Wright's Shadow in 1971.

• Read the full text of “Australia 1970”

• “Australia 1970” Summary

• “Australia 1970” Themes

  • 

    Nature vs. Humanity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-24

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Australia 1970”

  • Lines 1-4

    Die, wild country, ...
    ... a raging eye.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    Die like the ...
    ... suicide's invading stain.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    Suffer, wild country, ...
    ... to naked poverty.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    Die like the ...
    ... obstinate; stay blind.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    For we are ...
    ... die of us.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    I praise the ...
    ... thing we kill.

    

    

    

    

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• “Australia 1970” Symbols

  • 

    Australia's Animals and Landscapes

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “Die, wild country, like the eaglehawk, / dangerous till the last breath's gone, / clawing and striking.”
    • Lines 5-6: “Die like the tigersnake / that hisses such pure hatred from its pain”
    • Lines 9-10: “Suffer, wild country, like the ironwood / that gaps the dozer-blade.”
    • Lines 13-14: “Die like the soldier-ant / mindless and faithful to your million years.”
    • Lines 21-22: “I praise the scoring drought, the flying dust, / the drying creek, the furious animal,”

• “Australia 1970” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “Die, wild country, like the eaglehawk, / dangerous till the last breath's gone, / clawing and striking.”
    • Lines 5-8: “Die like the tigersnake / that hisses such pure hatred from its pain / as fills the killer's dreams / with fear like suicide's invading stain.”
    • Lines 9-10: “Suffer, wild country, like the ironwood / that gaps the dozer-blade.”
    • Lines 13-14: “Die like the soldier-ant / mindless and faithful to your million years.”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Die, wild country”
    • Lines 3-4: “Die / cursing your captor”
    • Line 5: “Die like the tigersnake”
    • Line 13: “Die like the soldier-ant”
    • Line 16: “stay obstinate; stay blind.”
    • Line 23: “that they oppose us still;”
    • Line 24: “that we are ruined by the thing we kill.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Die”
    • Line 2: “dangerous”
    • Line 3: “clawing,” “Die”
    • Line 4: “cursing,” “captor”
    • Line 6: “hisses,” “pure,” “hatred,” “pain”
    • Line 8: “suicide's,” “stain”
    • Line 14: “mindless,” “million”
    • Line 17: “self”
    • Line 18: “scorpion,” “snake”
    • Line 21: “drought,” “flying,” “dust”
    • Line 22: “drying,” “furious”

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Die, wild country,”
    • Lines 3-4: “Die / cursing your captor through a raging eye.”
    • Line 5: “Die like the tigersnake”
    • Line 9: “Suffer, wild country,”
    • Lines 11-12: “I see your living soil ebb with the tree / to naked poverty.”
    • Lines 13-16: “Die like the soldier-ant / mindless and faithful to your million years. / Though we corrupt you with our torturing mind, / stay obstinate; stay blind.”
    • Line 20: “even while you die of us.”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

• “Australia 1970” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Eaglehawk
  • Captor
  • Tigersnake
  • Ironwood
  • Gaps
  • Dozer-blade
  • Ebb
  • Soldier-ant
  • Corrupt
  • Obstinate
  • Scoring
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Die, wild country, like the eaglehawk,”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Australia 1970”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Australia 1970” Speaker

• “Australia 1970” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Australia 1970”

• More “Australia 1970” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Reading of the Poem — Listen to a reading and short analysis of "Australia 1970."

    • Who Was Judith Wright? — A brief biography of the poet.

    • Two Fires Festival of Arts and Activism — The website of the Two Fires Festival, an arts and activism festival held in honor of Judith Wright's "twin passions." 

    • Judith Wright the Activist — An article discussing Wright's role as "an activist poet who was ahead of her time."

    • A Brief History of Environmentalism in Australia — A look at how the European colonization of Australia led to widespread environmental collapse.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Judith Wright

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