KIDZ LORE illustration from Blinky Bill Grows Up by Dorothy Wall

  • SYDNEY FOLKLORE PROJECT CONTENTS
  • KIDZ LORE
  • BAWDY KIDZ LORE
  • WAR CRIES
  • SCHOOL SONGS
  • TRADITIONAL GAMES
  • METHODOLOGY
  • CLAPPING GAMES
  • COLLECTING CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE

    • SECTION 16: War Cries

    Please send your memories to the collection.
    See the contact page of the site menu and contribute by email.

    A war cry is a chant used by Australian schools in conjunction with their sporting events.

    • They are usually reserved for competitions outside of the school.
    • Most cries are short, around eight lines.
    • The shortness allows the war cry to be repeated ad nauseum - usually whenever the school scores a point or wins an event.
    • During the game the war cry is performed by the audience, rather than the players.
    • The shortness also provides easy learning.
    • As to the origin of the phrase "war cry" I would suggest that it is something we took from the Maori tradition of New Zealand. When Australia was first settled the Maori people, unlike the Australian Aborigines, were aggressive opponents to the British settlements and would employ their traditional war cries in an attempt to scare the British away. These war cries must have made quite an impression on the British who took them back to England and across to Australia, and seemingly adopted them for their schools.
    • Many Australian school war cries still incorporate Maori sounding words although they are not necessarily real words.
    • Most war cries are not "taught" by schools and appear to be an oral tradition.

    St Joseph's College, Nudgee, Brisbane
    David Gool, Director Travel Services

    Hokatika Hokatika - wish bam whap
    Ingo buddy buddy - give it to 'em hot
    Pour the boot
    Pour the boot
    Tackle 'em true
    Nudgee Nudgee - Blue white blue

    Wesley College, a Methodist (now Uniting Church) school in Melbourne
    Bruce Watson

    I spent a couple of years at Wesley College, a Methodist (now Uniting Church) school in Melbourne - one of Melbourne's private schools.

    Wesley Wesley zim-bah
    Wesley Wesley yah yah
    Wesley Wesley Wesley Wesley yah yah yah!

    But is was said so fast it came out:

    Wezza wezza zim-bah
    Wezza wezza yah yah
    Wezza wezza wezza wezza yah yah yah!

    We also had a simple little thing we would say aimed at rival school Melbourne Grammar:

    Who are
    We are
    Gram-ma
    Poof-tah!

    Charming stuff - but there you are.

    The War Cries of Parramatta High School
    thanks to Sandra Nixon who runs the Loaded Dog Folk Club in Sydney


    North Shore Marist Brothers
    Stuart McCarthy

    Igo Sego Opigo Ango
    Chorem Chorem ante far
    Race 'em chase 'em
    We're the boys to pace 'em
    Marist North Shore ra ra ra
    North Shore raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

    War Cry of De La Salle College Kingsgrove (now defunct?)
    Nick Weare

    King Gee,
    Col la
    Here we are
    We are the boys from La Salle - a
    Bexley Beverly Riverwood Nar
    We are the greatest near and far
    K-I-N-G-S we are
    Salle - a

    Sydney Grammar Rugby song

    Sydney Grammar
    ALIGATOR GRAMMAR
    Alligator mincemeat, crocodile pie.....
    VICTORY
    Are we in,
    We say YES,
    We are the boys of the SGS.
    Spelt;
    GRAMMAH....Grammahhhhhhhhh!

    Sydney Grammar
    Dr Emanuel Vlahakis
    Alligator mince meat
    Crocodile pie
    V-I-C-T-O-R-Y
    Are we in it
    We say YES
    We are the boys from the S-G-S
    G-R-A-M-M-A-R Grammar!


    Enmore Boys High war cry
    Dean Thomas

    1 2 3 4 we're the boys from En-more
    I hope it struck terror into the hearts of all who heard it but I suspect they thought, What a crook war cry.

    Sydney Technical College
    Alan Walker

    I attended Sydney Technical High School in Paddington in 1954 and 1955. Each year there was a football match with Cranbrook High School. I managed not to attend these matches so i do not know if this ditty was sung in the presence of Cranbrook boys, but it certainly got an airing in the Tech High school yard.

    Tiddly Winks, old man, here's a very simple plan
    " Young man get a woman if you can,
    If you can't get a woman get a Cranbrook man."

    Narrabunda High School, NSW
    Bob Fagan

    I don't know who put this together, or even why it has these words, but we had to get something together quickly for our first interschool exchange with Northmead High in Sydney. I should imagine the Narrabundah College lot of the early 21st century would think themselves too sophisticated for this. Here it is:

    Yah Yah, Ego Yah
    Ego Warrego Ego Yah.
    Ango Popigo Turramurra Wopigo
    Orky Orky Blah Blah Blah.
    Hoopra Hoopra Yak Yak Yak
    Narrabundah Narrabundah Black Gold Black!

    John The Baptist, Hunter's Hill
    Leo Schofield

    I used to be able to recite BOTH the 'war cry' from St. John Baptist, Hunter's Hill (circa 1945) and the one from Christian Brothers Lewisham, 'pseudo-abo' gibberish both with lines that went something like
    ...
    Yarrangobbie, Yarrangobbie, Yarrangobbie, Yonga
    ..... but all is now lost.

    The Joey's one included a line
    Joey's, Joey,s cerise and blue

    But not a line of the Lewisham one can I remember although it ended, as yours did, with the name of the loathed joint...
    C....B....H....S....L followed by a rousing cheer.

    The Kogarah one sounds like a litany of Greek ratepayers.

    Ainslie Primary School Elizabeth Jamieson - Senior Curator, Documents, National Film and Sound Archive

    I've always loved the Ainslie Primary School (ACT) sports cry which I don't think exists anymore but was told to me by my brother-in-law who attended in the 1950s:

    Ainslie, Ainslie brave and bold
    Ainslie, Ainslie dipped in gold


    Telopea, Telopea dipped in tar
    Telopea, Telopea, yah yah yah!

    (Telopea being the other public primary school in Canberra at the time).

    Milton Central School c. 1964
    Judy Pinder

    "Ulladulla, Boolangatta, Narrawallee, Yatte Yattah
    Yatte Yattah, Yatte Yattah, Yah! Yah! Yah!
    We see the big breeze down among the pine trees
    M -I-L-T-O-N - Milton!

    Holy Cross Woollahra
    Megan

    The 'ladies' of Holy Cross College Woollahra NSW, sang the following at our inter school sports and swim meets. Well, we did from the years 1970 to 1975 anyway!

    " Where ever we go,
    People want to know
    Who we are
    So we tell them
    We are Woollahra, might mighty Woollahra"
    Repeat twice, getting steadily louder each time.

    Strathfield
    Billy, ACT

    Rack Rack
    Rickety Rack
    SPC are on the track
    Blue Black
    Blue Black Gold
    Blue Black Blue Black Blue Black Gold
    Worry Me, Worry Me
    Strathfield, Strathfield, SPC
    S
    P
    C

    Sydney Boys High
    Chris Maltby
    The "Eh-up" is a long "aaaaaay", short "oop" sound.
    Who knows what it may mean. It was just as common to make loud and rude raspberry noises during the polite war-cries of the private schools...

    Koomiti, Koomiti, Kara, Kara
    Koomiti, Koomiti, Kara, Kara
    Eh-up, Eh-up
    Up, Up, Koomiti - High!

    Sydney High School
    Russ Hannah
    I think it was this one but I can't vouch for the spelling as I never saw it written down (or I can't remember). Notice the Koomati seems to be from the Haka. There's something not quiet right about it I think there may be lines missing

    Koomati Koomati Kara Kara
    Koomati Koomati Kara Kara
    Higgerty Piggerty Hoop-a-roo
    Higgerty Piggerty Mufferty Wiggerty
    Koomati Koomati
    HIGH

    Rockhampton Grammar School
    Ian Dearden
    The school has subsequently turned co-ed, so I assume there has been some modification to ensure that the warcry is gender neutral. The war cry (phonetically because I don't ever recall seeing it written down) was:

    Kar-medi Kar-medi
    Kara Kara
    Tin-ee-eye Tin-ee-eye
    Tin-gan-gara
    Hop-ee-go Hop-ee-go
    Two to one Whop-ee-go
    Whoska Whoska
    Ya Ya Boska
    Ork-eye Ork-eye
    Bah Bah Bah

    Grammar boys, grammar boys,
    Yes we are.

    school myths at Rockhampton Grammar
    thanks to Ian Dearden

    Stuartholme School, Brisbane
    thanks to Natasha Dearden, Grade 9

    All through the city all through the city there's been a lot of talk, about the Stuartholme girls and the wa-ay they walk. wooo woooo they walk through the city, lookin mighty pretty. talkin bout the mighty, mighty re-ed and gold! i said: HEY, ON GAOU, hey hey the power hey hey the beats gonna step on your feet..wooooooooooo step on your feet ...wooooooo clap your hands (two claps) stop your feet (two feet stomps) get on down to the Stuarthome beat.(body/hand percussion on legs) Ramsgate
    WF     Ramsgate, Ransgate, don't be slow,
    Be like Elvis and go man go

    Kogarah
    WF     One , two, three, four,
    Who do you think we're barracking for?
    Five, six, seven, eight,
    Who do you think we appreciate?

    KOGARAH!

    (Kogarah, Kogarah, yar yar yar
    ortta be ortta be
    dipped in tar
    Ramsgate, Ramsgate, brave and bold
    ortta be, ortta be
    dipped in gold

    Catholics, Catholics,
    Ring the bell
    While the Proddies go to hell

    Publics, publics,
    Ring the bell
    While the Catholics go to hell.
    Catholics stink!



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