OzeAuMusic

Lyrics

All for nothing All for nothing

Dad worked the mill at Cann River Back in seventy-eight I was ten and sweeping sawdust Off the old sorting plate

He'd point up towards the ridgeline Say son that's money in the bank Mountain ash and stringybark Take a little and give thanks

One coupe cut nine coupes growing That was how the old mob talked Town had a school and footy team And a pub where the sawmen walked

Then the men in ties came calling With their clipboards and their shoes Said sustainable yield boys Means you'll have to learn to lose

They gave us long licences With a signature and stamp Then changed the rules each winter And blamed it on a camp

Melbourne wrote the answers Before the questions reached the town And every shiny green paper Shut another sawbench down

They said leave it standing Let the old bush breathe

Let it breathe Let it breathe

But no one from the city Had to pack up and leave

And it's all for nothing boys All for nothing

All for nothing

They closed the gates at Orbost For a glider in a tree

All for nothing mate All for nothing

All for nothing

We lost the mill we kept the forest Then we watched it burn to the sea

Yeah it's all for nothing

By ninety-two the young blokes Were marking walking tracks Said tourists might come later When the timber trucks turned back

We laughed but then we helped them Peg the line to Mallacoota A man still feeds his children Even when the work gets fewer

Then came codes and courtrooms And experts passing through They knew the Latin names for possums But not what towns were meant to do

They said leave it standing Let the old bush be

Let it be Let it be

But they never saw the fuel load From Orbost to the sea

And it's all for nothing boys All for nothing

All for nothing

They closed the gates at Orbost For a glider in a tree

All for nothing mate All for nothing

All for nothing

We lost the mill we kept the forest Then we watched it burn to the sea

Yeah it's all for nothing

VicForests took the kicking From the left and from the right Counting possums in the darkness By another city light

Meanwhile fuel kept building Where the crews once kept it thin Then Black Summer rolled across us And took it on the chin

The sky went black at Mallacoota The radios went dead And every town from Cann to Orbost Knew exactly what was said

Sue from down the road says Leave the old growth alone

I said I'm with you Sue Let the cathedrals stand on their own

Plant the blue gums faster Give the mill towns something still

You don't need to kill a town To save a bloody hill

All for nothing

That's what they left us

All for nothing

Paper and ash

All for nothing

A forest full of fuel

All for nothing

And a town out of cash

And it's all for nothing boys All for nothing

All for nothing

They wrote the rules they ran the courts And called the whole thing green

All for nothing mate All for nothing

All for nothing

Sustainable is just a word From a paddock never seen

Yeah it's all for nothing

We had jobs we had timber Had a bush we understood

Now we've got grants and paperwork And a forest full of wood

All for nothing boys All for nothing

All for nothing

We lost the mill we kept the forest Then we watched it burn to the sea

Yeah it's all for nothing

All for nothing All for nothing

And they called that progress