Dorothea Mackellar should be followed. Dorothea Mackellar was born in Sydney in 1885 into a well-established, wealthy family and attended the University of Sydney on a private scholarship. She composed "My Country" when she was 19 years old, and the second verse is possibly the most well-known stanza in Australian poetry. She never married or had children. Mackellar began writing poems at an early age and submitted her work to literary magazines while still a student. One of her poems was even published before she completed her degree. In 1903, she became editor of the prestigious Australian literary magazine, the Kestrel, where she remained for five years. During this time, she developed a close friendship with another young poet named Robert Harvey who would later become famous as one of Australia's first modern poets. In 1908, she left the Kestrel to take up a post as principal lady lecturer at the New South Wales (NSW) Women's College in Sydney. She remained there for three years before being offered a position at the University of Adelaide, which she accepted. She moved to Adelaide with her husband Charles Manning Manning who was also an academic and they had two children together. Dorothea Mackellar died in Adelaide in February 1980 at the age of 96. In "My Country", Dorothea Mackellar expresses her love for her country using classic poetic language.