The Cobbon Aboriginal Boomerang and Murrurundi Critic June 1875 Tune Fine Old English Gentleman

Fragment

June 1876 issue
Quotes this 'traditional ballad'

Skulls on skulls, and limbs on limbs,
Yea, ''twas an awful sight
To see the spot where blackmen fell,
And perished in the fight;
King, chieftain, slave alike succumb,
The yells rise fierce and strong,
Too New South Wales!
The creek all ran with blood
That day at bleak Wagong.

The Buffalo Shooters Song

From 'Tales of a Big Country' 1972 Cooktown.
Tune: Galway bay

Oh the girls come down from Oenpelli Mission
They're wrapped up in the bible when they come
But they'll soon forget about those Ten Commandments
When you hit them with a snort o OP rum.

A Cannibal Feast Adelaide Observer

ABORIGINAL SONGS

Taken from The Australian Aboriginal by Roland Robinson and Douglas Baglin who quote that it was a popular ditty in country towns. I suspect this is from Dougie Young, Wilcannia, as several of his 1950s songs gained wide circulation.

Cut a Rug

Beer

Beer is all froth and bubble
Whiskey will make you moan
Plonk is another name for trouble But the metho is out on its own.

From Bill Harney to Nancy Keesing 24/3/53

And included in the correspondence files of the Keesing papers
Mitchell Library.

Bill Harney was a legend of the Outback. He was a familiar face to many Northern Territory Aborigines who accepted him as a brother. Harney wrote several books on the Outback. He sent these two ditties to Katherine Brisbane when she (and Doug Stewart) were working on their version of 'Old Bush Songs'. Harney could never be described as 'racist' and particularly in regard to indigenous Australians. He saw these ditties as amusements and that they were shared by the northern indigenous people.

note: Also refer Bawdry Section for more Bill Harney material

Parody - Home on the Range

Off times at night with the stars shining bright, I hear that old didjeredu (sic)
And my thoughts seem to stray, for I can't keep away, from the girls that are easy to woo, and do.

Chorus:
Home, home on the range where the gins and the young quweis play
And man was supplied with a girl as a bride and the old river flowed on its way.

I Like to Love Tune: Redwings (If You Only Knew What the Redmen do to make poor Redwing cry')