Helping us understand 'droughts and flooding rains'

Dorothy Mackellar’s poem “My Country” is the frequent refuge of climate deniers.

Their arguments nearly always look to the fourth line of the second verse that says, “Of droughts and flooding rains.” as justification of their beliefs.

It seems the words of a poem written early in the 20^th century in London by a homesick Australian carry more weight, and authority, from the science of the 20^th and 21^st century.

Such thoughts we unavoidable in reading a piece published today in the University of Melbourne’s “Voice” section in the Melbourne Age headed: “Scientists unearth Australia’s early historical records of droughtsand flooding rains”.

That story, written by Stav Psonis, discusses a world-first study by University climate researchers of Australia’s early settlement climate history.

“In the study, researchers from the School of Earth Sciences have uncovered historical weather records as far back as 1788 in southeastern Australia, completing our understanding of Australia’s natural climate variability before the beginning of official records in 1910,” Psonis reports.