Clem Tholet - With His Hands

We came a hundred years ago
Through rivers and through rain
A thousand miles of dreaming
And a thousand miles of pain
We came upon a country
As fine as any land
Where a man could shape the future
With his hands

Our towns had small beginnings
They were all that we could use
We had no need for fancy clothes
And sometimes none for shoes
We came here rough and ready
And here we made a stand
Where a man could shape the future
With his hands

And often I remember
And oft times I recall
The nights we danced beneath the lights
Of the old town market hall
When Kingsway was a river
And the hotel was the Grand
And a man could shape the future
With his hands

We dug into the soil
With our backs against the sun
And we found the roots of something
That had only just begun
We found gold and we found silver
And the wide tobacco lands
Where a man could shape the future
With his hands

Then the railways came along
Breathing life into the towns
And the rhythms that they gave us
Somehow made a different sound
And the children started learning
To live the dream we’d planned
Where a man could shape the future
With his hands

And the tribesman that we found here
Were different in their ways
But they helped us build the nation
That we’re sharing here today
There was much to teach each other
And much to understand
And the people shaped the future
With their hands

The people brought their cultures
In a dozen different ways
And Britain held the reigns
On this maverick that she’d raised
So when the world was torn by war
We went to take our stand
Our young men placed their futures
In her hands

When the Great War gave our men back
From the death across the seas
We had bought the right to govern
By the year of ’23
Two million pounds was what it cost
To lead this growing land
Where a man could shape his future
With his hands