The tale of transport here writ plain
   For every traveller to see --
Of car, of train, of carrier's wain --
   Reveals a life-long rivalry:
The common tale of many a town.
   Planned in the day of the pioneers,
Striving for trade and due renown,
While fortunes wavered up and down,
   Thro'out a young land's restless years.

First, where the pleasant Goulburn flows
   To seek the Murray and the sea,
Her green-decked hamlet here arose
   To tempt the new prosperity.
And teamsters stayed their waggons here,
   Beside this picturesque abode,
To steal a night of Seymour cheer,
To sip again of Seymour beer
   Ere they pursued the lonely road.

And so this simple rustic maid
   Grew to a sweet but restless dame
Whose ever watchful eye saw trade
   Thrive where the shining railroad came.
She raised a newer home beside
   The gleaming way; while ever she --
To charm and beauty now denied --
Sought for a surer, speedier guide
   In man's new god - Efficiency.

But now swift cars came gliding down
   The smooth road to her old abode.
Scorning in turn her rail-side town,
   She moved again - from rail to road.
And here, while trade grows none the less,
   Beauty still grows in many a guise,
And trees, in summer loveliness
Or winter charm, serve to express
   Content in happy compromise. 

"Den"
Herald, 9 May 1934, p6

Note:
This was part of the Country Towns series.