Hurry Save The Murray!

by Diane Bell

Once upon a time, in the far away Land of Oz, there lived a wax-worm eating Bearded Dragon. He would puff out his spiky throat pouch and talk a lot about working families.

One day, in the auspicious Year of Elections, he gathered his inner circle of Lesser Dragons and delivered a message of hope for Great Things. The last line of the speech, “We will travel to the city of churches and meet with our constituents,” sent the Lesser Dragons into their characteristic position when intimidated: they flattened their bodies and stood erect with mouths gaping.

The word went out across the land. “Come and tell us your concerns. We will be in the burrow of a Minor Dragon who needs our help in this The Year of Elections.”
The citizens came from far and wide to see their Bearded Dragon and Lesser Dragons. They cared little for his wax-worms but they were VERY concerned about his silence on the matter of water in their fair land. It was dry, very dry, sucked dry by decades of mismanagement.

Some of the citizens requested an audience with their leader and inner circle. Before entering the burrow they were subjected to thorough security checks. Once inside they were fed small things and subjected to bad music. They waited.

Other citizens stood outside the burrow. They stood for hours in the special space set aside by their leader for those who wished to protest his regime. He was careful dragon. He paid attention to all details and took care that the burrow was well protected.

The citizens waited at the burrow entrance. The Leafy Sea Dragons were faint. They needed fresh water. They lay down.

The citizens waited.

And they waited.

They had prepared a song for the Bearded Dragon, a clever little number to the tune of “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport”. They had a chant to make it easy for him to remember their message: “Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Save the Murray.” The ReedWarblers came along and sang more lyrical songs of the universality of connection. It was a jolly gathering.

They all waited.

They carried empty buckets to demonstrate they needed water. They held their banners high.

They waited.

After several hours they learned from the protectors of the burrow entrance that the Bearded Dragon was down the burrow with his Lesser Dragons. The Dragons had a burrow entrance just around the corner from where they had corralled the concerned citizens and Leafy Sea Dragons.

Now the patient citizens were appalled.

Their mothers had taught them to be punctual.

Their grandmothers had taught them to be punctual.

It was VERY rude to be late for important occasions. It was an insult. Bad manners were not to be tolerated in the Land of Oz.

They all knew the fate of Bearded Dragons with bad manners. Larger goannas preyed on them. It was not pretty.

The Year of Elections could be a less than auspicious year. There are many predators in this dry land and they want answers.