source: The Shearers' Record newspaper Oct 15, 1889
AHS
SITE SOURCE: SYDNEY FOLKLORE - SECTION 2: Labour History

SHEARING TIME

The shearing time has come again;
The lads are rolling round.
To seek a place in some good shed
To earn an honest pound
Most for work come every year
They've formed, a union "band
The price of labour to raise up
All thro Australia's land
But still there are some black legs
On stations round, about
Who signed against their fellow men
And threw the Union out
They are not man but paltry curs
Who have not got the heart
To go against the squatters
But stop & "take his part"
They could not screw their courage up
To join the Union band
It stands out for their lawful rights
Which Union lads demand
They're renegades & traitors
Ashamed to show their faces
To friends they've known for years & years
Who'll brand them with disgrace
No matter to what shed they go
Though years may roll along
They will be known by some of us
Who'll expose them to the throng
The time will come my bonny lads
When the " Union " flag is strong
Than those who now refuse to join
Will discover right from wrong
For well we know; that if we do
Not have a Union Band
The price of Labour must come down
Through Australia's sunny land
So roll up to the Union "boys
Roll up one & all
For though we're strong, we won't do wrong
But "the weak shall go to the wall"

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