News and Media

By an Out Doors Participant 

In April earlier this year, a group of Out Doors participants set off on a slow and soothing canoe journey through the Barmah region of the Murray River. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, calm waters, blue skies, and gentle sunshine made for ideal paddling conditions

By intentionally keeping the total distance low, we gave ourselves permission to move slowly, allowing everyone to truly immerse in the rhythm of the river. Mornings were filled with the calls of waterbirds echoing through the red gums, and evenings brought quiet moments around the fire, camped on sandy riverbank sites that felt like secret sanctuaries.

Among this relaxed and reflective group was a participant who captured the experience beautifully in a poem. Their words speak not only to the peacefulness of the trip but also to the power of shared moments in nature.

A Prayer for the Murray Tree

Clothed in virginal white, she stands taller than most.

Each arm gracefully reaches, blessed by years to wind into the sky.

She has watched the give and take;

two thousand, five hundred and eight times over.

 

As a blessing the sun kisses each leaf into vibrant green stained glass.

Another generation of cockatoos chorus rudely in her branches,

while above the black kite circles in wonder, a nest to make.

 

Below, suspended rudely into the air, her foundations bind ever tighter to this earth.

Girders drill wider winding into the bank.

A fibrous intertwine, a brittle tenant of faith and a testimony of hope.

She stands valiant in her fight and in her defiance to this ebb and flow.

Of our hope against the loss she will not let come.

 

In this fight against her master,

Doongala, relentless in her kiss of life and in the lapping loosening her toes.

And so, I pause to say a prayer for this Murray River Tree.

Please, let us all say a prayer for this Murray River Tree.