(Air: “Ten Thousand Miles Away.”) Hurrah for the Roma railway! Hurrah for Cobb and Co.,And oh! for a good fat horse or two to carry me Westward Ho-To carry me Westward Ho! my boys, that’s where the cattle strayOn the far Barcoo, where they eat nardoo, a thousand miles away. Chorus Then give your horses […]

There’s a trade you all know well-It’s bringing cattle over-I’ll tell you all about the timeWhen I became a drover.I made up my mind to try the spec,To the Clarence I did wander,And bought a mob of duffers thereTo begin as an overlander. Chorus Pass the wine cup round, my boys;Don’t let the bottle stand […]

(Air: “She Wore a Wreath of Roses.”) He wore an old blue shirt the night that first we met,An old and tattered cabbage-tree concealed his locks of jet;His footsteps had a languor, his voice a husky tone;Both man and dog were spent with toil as they slowly wandered home. Chorus I saw him but a […]

My son, if you go to the races to battle with Ikey and Mo,Remember, it’s seldom the pigeon can pick out the eye of the crow;Remember, they live by the business; remember, my son, and go slow. If ever an owner should tell you, “Back mine”–don’t you be such a flat.He knows his own cunning, […]

I’d reckon his weight at eight-stun-eight,And his height at five-foot-two,With a face as plain as an eight-day clockAnd a walk as brisk as a bantam-cock–Game as a bantam, too,Hard and wiry and full of steam,That’s the boss of the English Team,Reverend Mullineux. Makes no row when the game gets rough–None of your “Strike me blue!”“You’s […]

Come all you little rouseabouts and climb upon my knee;To-day, you see, is Christmas Day, and so it’s up to meTo give you some instruction like–a kind of Christmas tale–So name your yarn, and off she goes. What, “Jonah and the Whale”? Well, whales is sheep I’ve never shore; I’ve never been to sea,So all […]

Brumby is the Aboriginal word for a wild horse. At a recent trial a N.S.W. Supreme Court Judge, hearing of Brumby horses, asked: “Who is Brumby, and where is his Run?” It lies beyond the Western PinesTowards the sinking sun,And not a survey mark definesThe bounds of “Brumby’s Run”. On odds and ends of mountain […]

We have sung the song of the droving days,Of the march of the travelling sheep;By silent stages and lonely waysThin, white battalions creep.But the man who now by the land would thriveMust his spurs to a plough-share beat.Is there ever a man in the world aliveTo sing the song of the Wheat! It’s west by […]

Not for the love of women toil we, we of the craft,Not for the people’s praise;Only because our goddess made us her own and laughed,Claiming us all our days, Claiming our best endeavour–body and heart and brainGiven with no reserve–Niggard is she towards us, granting us little gain;Still, we are proud to serve. Not unto […]

When I was at home I was down on my luck,And I earned a poor living by drawing a truck;But old aunt died, and left me a thousand-“Oh, oh,I’ll start on my travels,” said Billy Barlow.Oh dear, lackaday, oh,So off to Australia came Billy Barlow. When to Sydney I got, there a merchant I met,Who […]

I ain’t the kind of bloke as takes to any steady job;I drives me bottle cart around the town;A bloke what keeps ‘is eyes about can always make a bob–I couldn’t bear to graft for every brown.There’s lots of handy things about in everybody’s yard,There’s cocks and hens a-runnin’ to an’ fro,And little dogs what […]

Wilt thou love me, sweet, when my hair is greyAnd my cheeks shall have lost their hue?When the charms of youth shall have passed away,Will your love as of old prove true? For the looks may change, and the heart may range,And the love be no longer fond;Wilt thou love with truth in the years […]

Across the Queensland border lineThe mobs of cattle go;They travel down in sun and shineOn dusty stage, and slow.The drovers, riding slowly onTo let the cattle spread,Will say: “Here’s one old landmark gone,For old man Tyson’s dead.” What tales there’ll be in every campBy men that Tyson knew;The swagmen, meeting on the tramp,Will yarn the […]

Well, I’ve waited mighty patient while they all came rolling in,Mister Lawson, Mister Dyson, and the others of their kin,With their dreadful, dismal stories of the Overlander’s camp,How his fire is always smoky, and his boots are always damp;And they paint it so terrific it would fill one’s soul with gloom,But you know they’re fond […]

(Carrying a Swag.) Oh! there once was a swagman camped in the Billabong,Under the shade of a Coolabah tree;And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling,“Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.” Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda, my darling,Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?Waltzing Matilda and leading a water-bag–Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? […]

There’s some that ride the Robbo style, and bump at every stride;While others sit a long way back, to get a longer ride.There’s some that ride like sailors do, with legs and arms, and teeth;And some ride on the horse’s neck, and some ride underneath. But all the finest horsemen out–the men to Beat the […]

Beyond the land where Leichhardt went,Beyond Sturt’s Western track,The rolling tide of change has sentSome strange J.P.s out back. And Saltbush Bill, grown old and grey,And worn with want of sleep,Received the news in camp one dayBehind the travelling sheep That Edward Rex, confiding inHis known integrity,By hand and seal on parchment skinHad made him […]

Oh, Mulligan’s bar was the deuce of a placeTo drink and to fight, and to gamble and race;The height of choice spirits from near and from farWere all concentrated on Mulligan’s bar. There was “Jerry the Swell”, and the jockey-boy Ned,“Dog-bite-me”–so called from the shape of his head–And a man whom the boys, in their […]

I had spent the night in the watch-house–My head was the size of three–So I went and asked the chemistTo fix up a drink for me;And he brewed it from various bottlesWith soda and plenty of ice,With something that smelt like lemon,And something that seemed like spice. It fell on my parching palateLike the dew […]

It was over at Coolgardie that a mining speculator,Who was going down the township just to make a bit o’ chink,Went off to hire a camel from a camel propagator,And the Afghan said he’d lend it if he’d stand the beast a drink.Yes, the only price he asked him was to stand the beast a […]