Mine

from Deep Leads by The Orbweavers

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about

Mining the land, and the psyche. Falling in / walking away.

The destructive post-invasion and settlement history of Australia is intertwined with mining history. Melbourne’s rapid development in the second half of the 19th century is inextricably linked to the wealth generated through the discovery of rich gold deposits throughout Victoria.

The gold rush had a devastating effect on the landscape - deforestation, tunnelling and quarrying, the re-routing and contamination of waterways, amongst other destructions and violence. Economically viable gold deposits in Victoria have now been exhausted, and bushland has recovered in some areas, but more than 100 years later there are still arsenic contaminated sites associated with historic gold mining, which may never be cleaned up. The mining of coal seam gas and coal in the east, and uranium in the centre and north of Australia, continues despite contamination risks to the environment.

This song is also about psychological terrain - the accumulation of suppressed emotions which cannot be easily articulated, freely expressed or actioned, and our increasing desire to walk away from oppressive hierarchical structures.

lyrics

Coal of the east,
Ore of the west,
Aluminium scraped from my chest.
Mine.

Tailings steep,
River runs sour,
New accretions form on my brow.
Mine.

Methane seeps a plume of fire.
Beneath the wheat fields, vapours rise.
Mine.

And there we plunge into the heart:
Beneath those ancient rivers,
Dredging hardened secrets
Of poison
And of gold within.

And where desire has been forged
By heat and time beyond my grasp,
I walk the crumbling perimeter -
The chasm yawns
To meet us.

I leave the churches and their chores,
And in my dreams,
I leave the banks, and buildings too,
And walk away,
And down my tools,
And in my dreams:
I do not work for you.

And down my tools.
I do not work for you.

credits

from Deep Leads, released September 17, 2017

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about

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The Orbweavers Melbourne, Australia

The Orbweavers are Marita Dyson & Stuart Flanagan, multidisciplinary artists working in song, performance and visual art. Their work responds to history, memory and place. They are interested in local waterways, industrial history and environmental change.

They have written and recorded 3 albums, co-produced by their greyhound companions, Fern (RIP 2018) & Susie, released through Mistletone. ... more

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