Great Gum Trees

Great gum trees are as Australian as can be

There’s nothing more Aussie than the Eucalyptus Tree

They have been here in this land since life began

Thousands of years before the coming of man.

The Manna Gum and the Flowering Gum none the same

Grey Gums and the Scented Gums too many to name

Hundreds of different species of this great tree

All belonging to the Eucalyptus family.

The giant in the forest park standing tall

Trees beside him all look small

Stringybark and Ironbark all familiar to the eye

You know them by their bark; the gum trees never lie.

Native flowers oozing nectar attract the wild bush bees

Birds peck at gumnut pits, devouring them like peas

Shedding their outer ribbons of bark in Summer every year

Revealing a radiant surface, so smooth and sheer.

Man took gum seeds across sea and sand

Sharing them with foreign lands 

But although gum trees grow where we cannot see

There's nothing more Australian than the Great Gum Trees.