AustLit
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Contents
- From : The Western Road, extract poetry (p. 2-3)
- The Convicts' Rum Songi"Cut yer name across me backbone,", single work poetry (p. 6)
-
Prologue, Spoken by George Barrington
The Barrington Prologuei"From distant climes, o'er wide-spread seas we come,",
single work
poetry
(p. 6)
Note:
- With title "From True Patriots All"
- Attributed to George Carter.
- Botany Bay, a New Songi"Let us drink a good health to our schemers above,", single work poetry (p. 7-8)
- The Old Station, extract novel (p. 10-12)
- Stringy Bark and Green Hidei"I sing of a commodity, it's one that will not fail yer,", single work poetry (p. 13)
- It's Grand, extract poetry (p. 14)
- From : The Old Bark School, extract poetry (p. 16)
-
Squatters' Song - NSWi"Hurrah! for the damper, the beef and the tin,",
single work
poetry
(p. 17)
Note: Attributed to 'Anonymous'.
- From : Middleton's Peter, extract short story (p. 19)
- The Women of the Westi"They left the vine-wreathed cottage and the mansion on the hill,", single work poetry (p. 20)
-
An Old Mate of Your Father's,
single work
short story
(p. 22-27)The narrator remembers how his father would be visited by old mates and how they sit together talking about their days on the Ballarat and Bendigo goldfields.
- From : The Roaring Days, extract poetry (p. 28-29)
- From : The Loaded Dog, extract short story (p. 30)
- Have You a Miner's Right?, extract biography (p. 32)
-
The Wild Colonial Boyi"'Tis of a wild Colonial boy, Jack Doolan was his name",
single work
poetry
(p. 34-36)
'The Wild Colonial Boy' is a traditional Irish/Australian ballad of which there are many different versions. It has been argued that the original version was really about Jack Donahoe (variously spelled Donahoo or Donahue), an Irish transport who arrived at Sydney Cove in 1825, and was subsequently convicted of highway robbery and sentenced to death. He escaped and waged a guerrilla war against the wealthy for more than two years in the country around Sydney. On September 1st 1830 he was ambushed by a police party near Cambelltown and shot dead, his companions Webber and Warmsley escaping into the bush. This version was eventually outlawed as seditious so the name of the protagonist changed.
The resulting Irish version is about a young emigrant, named Jack Duggan, who left the town of Castlemaine, County Kerry, Ireland, for Australia in the 1800s. According to the song (and in keeping with the true story of Jack Donahoe), he spent his time there 'robbing from the rich to feed the poor'. In the song, the protagonist is fatally wounded in an ambush when his heart is pierced by the bullet of Fitzroy.
The Australian version has Jack Doolan (or sometimes Jack Dowling) as the protagonist, and here Castlemaine refers to the Australian town in Victoria. In both versions variation in the wording and language occurs across different sources.
In his Old Bush Songs, Banjo Patterson wrote: "it will be noticed that the same chorus is sung to both 'The Wild Colonial Boy' and 'Bold Jack Donahoo'. Several versions of both songs were sent in, but the same chorus was always made to do duty for both songs." This chorus, included in some (not all) Australian versions is as follows:
- Come, all my hearties,
- we'll roam the mountains high,
- Together we will plunder,
- together we will die.
- We'll wander over valleys,
- and gallop over plains,
- And we'll scorn to live in
- slavery, bound down with iron chains.
- Ballad of Jack Lefroyi"Come all you lads and listen, a story I would tell,", single work poetry (p. 37)
- The Morning of the Frayi"'Come on, boys,' says the Darkie, with the devil in his eye;", single work poetry (p. 38)
- The Style in Which It's Donei"Friend Draper steals ten thousand pounds,", single work poetry (p. 40)
-
The Champion Bullock-Driver,
single work
short story
humour
(p. 42-44)The ghosts of sixteen dead bullock drivers rise from the grave when they recognise the skill of a champion bullock driver.
