Dorothea Mackellar - Treasured Australian Poetry - The Colours of Light 2025 50c Uncirculated Coin

Born on 1 July 1885, Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar OBE holds a unique place in the literary heart of Australia. Through her evocative and descriptive poems she captured the unique qualities of the country’s landscape, its light and colours, and in the process taped into our collective soul, giving word to our fundamental connection to country and place. 

Mackellar’s most famous poem My Country was first published under the title Core of My Heart in 1908. It was finally given its current title when it appeared in Mackellar’s first book, The Closed Door, and Other Verses, published in 1911. Also included in this publication was the poem Dawn which was inspired by the natural beauty of the family property, Kurrumbede, near Gunnedah in New South Wales. 

Described as a ‘lyrist of colour and light’ Mackellar poetry overflows with rapturous descriptions of the unique qualities of Australia’s light, and this is no more evident than in her evocative poem The Colours of Light, which appeared in her second book entitled The Witch-Maid, published in 1914.