Lyrics
Mmm-mm Mmm-mm Mmm
They call her Kati Thanda now Beneath an endless sky A silver scar across the earth Where desert rivers die
She waits through years of emptiness Then rises with the rain A mirror laid across the dust That disappears again
The old maps called her Lake Eyre The new signs speak her name But water does not read the words Or recognise a claim
She carries every cloud above Each bird and falling star Too wide to hold behind a desk Too wild to own from far
We came to stand beside her Not to conquer or command Just to feel the wind upon us And the water meet the land
No boats on Lake Eyre No footprints in the clay You may watch her from a distance Then quietly walk away
They can draw another boundary They can close another track But the rain still finds the river And the river still comes back
The sailors kept their timber boats Through every year of drought Waiting for the desert rain To call the old crews out
Not for gold or trophies Not to leave the country scarred Just one brief sail through silence Under heaven's open yard
Then people came with lanyards With reports beneath their arms Speaking softly of protection Regulation, risk and harm
Some reasons may be honest Some wounds deserve respect But a rule without proportion Is a wall we should inspect
There is wisdom in restraint There is arrogance in control You can guard a place from damage Without fencing off its soul
No boats on Lake Eyre No footprints in the clay You may watch her from a distance Then quietly walk away
They can publish every reason They can close another track But the rain still finds the river And the river still comes back
I knew a man whose final wish Was simple as the rain To touch the inland water He might never see again
No grand display or protest No flag against the sky Just salt upon his weathered hands Before he said goodbye
Who decides what memory A human heart may keep Who measures every footstep Where the ancient waters sleep
Respect is more than distance And care is more than law Sometimes love means entering With humility and awe
From saltpan to the inlet From the mountains to the sea The country holds our stories But it cannot cage the free
We are brief beneath the weather We are shadows passing through And the land belongs to no-one If it does not welcome you
No boats on Lake Eyre We will question every line For the land can still be sacred Without ceasing to be mine
Not mine to own or damage Not mine to sell or claim But mine to know and care for And to speak its living name
No boats on Lake Eyre Yet the flood rolls down the track You can fence the road before us But you cannot hold it back
For the rain still finds the river And the river finds the plain And the people will remember When the desert fills again
When the desert fills again When the desert fills again
You cannot own the water You cannot fence the sky We are only passing by