AustLit logo
Jim Jones at Botany Bay single work   poetry   "O listen for a moment, lads, and hear me tell my tale,"
Issue Details: First known date: 1907... 1907 Jim Jones at Botany Bay
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Latest Issues

Notes

  • A version of this poem, entitled 'Jim Jones,' is performed by Bob Dylan on the album Good as I Been to You (Columbia Records, 1992). The arrangement and the modification of the lyrics are by Dylan.
  • Minor variations between versions.
  • Editor's note: Bill Scott believes that the poem's mention of the bushranger Donohue dates its composition to the late 1820s.
  • Can be sung to the tune of 'Irish Mollie, Oh!'

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Jim Jones
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Old Pioneering Days in the Sunny South Charles MacAlister , Goulburn : Chas. MacAlister Book Publication Committee , 1907 Z944897 1907 single work autobiography Goulburn : Chas. MacAlister Book Publication Committee , 1907 pg. 72-73
    Note: Editor's note: Air - "Irish Mollie, Oh!"
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Bulletin vol. 76 no. 3923 20 April 1955 Z597581 1955 periodical issue 1955 pg. 13
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Colonial Ballads Hugh Anderson , Ronald G. Edwards (illustrator), Ferntree Gully : Rams Skull Press , 1955 Z943064 1955 anthology poetry A selection of more than eighty Australian ballads, with music and narrative. The 2nd edition contains an index of song titles, a bibliography, an index and the following sections: (I) Street Ballads and the Bush; (II) Singers and Songs of the Goldfields; (II) "The Songs They Used to Sing"; (IV) Stringybark and Greenhide; (V) On the Far Barcoo; (VI) The Balladists; (VII) Folksong in Australia. London Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1962 pg. 9
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Penguin Australian Song Book J. S. Manifold , Ringwood : Penguin , 1964 Z406059 1964 anthology poetry Ringwood : Penguin , 1964 pg. 12-13
    Note: With musical score. Title: 'Jim Jones'
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon From the Ballads to Brennan T. Inglis Moore (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1964 Z407973 1964 anthology poetry Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1964 pg. 3
    Note: With title: 'Jim Jones'
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Old Australian Ballads : An Anthology W. N. Walker (editor), Sydney : School Projects , 1967 Z1569531 1967 anthology poetry children's

    Collection of well known Australian songs and ballads, divided into sections based on the historical subject matter: 'Ball and Chain', 'Bail Up', 'The Roaring Days', 'Where's Your Licence?', 'Stockmen', 'Wool Away!' and 'Such is Life'.

    The sections - and some of the individual works - are prefaced with educational introductions by the editor explaining historical context as well as terms and concepts.

    Australian Scene : Australian Ballads
    Sydney : School Projects , 1967
    pg. 8-9
    Note: With title: Jim Jones.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Overlander Songbook Ronald George Edwards (editor), Ronald George Edwards (illustrator), Ferntree Gully : Rams Skull Press , 1956 Z856165 1956 anthology poetry prose Adelaide : Rigby Publishers , 1971 pg. 4
    Note: Includes annotations by editor.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Complete Book of Australian Folk Lore Bill Scott , Sydney : Ure Smith , 1976 Z206758 1976 anthology poetry short story prose Sydney : Ure Smith , 1976 pg. 163
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Old Bush Songs and Rhymes of Colonial Times Douglas Stewart (editor), Nancy Keesing (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1957 Z389570 1957 anthology poetry Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1976 pg. 17-18
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum Geoffrey Dutton (editor), Adelaide : Rigby , 1976 Z399014 1976 anthology Adelaide : Rigby , 1976 pg. 22-23
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Collins Book of Australian Poetry Rodney Hall , Sydney : Collins , 1981 Z542215 1981 anthology poetry Sydney : Collins , 1981 pg. 20
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon How Strong the Roots : Poems of Exile Howard Sergeant (editor), London : Evans , 1981 Z816928 1981 anthology poetry London : Evans , 1981 pg. 63-64
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Old Ballads from the Bush Bill Scott (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1987 Z57118 1987 anthology poetry Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1987 pg. 8
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Bushwackers Australian Song Book Jan Wositzky (editor), Dobe Newton (editor), South Yarra : Sphere , 1988 Z240373 1988 anthology poetry short story extract humour South Yarra : Sphere , 1988 pg. 10-11
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Two Centuries of Australian Poetry Mark O'Connor (editor), Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1988 Z322247 1988 anthology poetry criticism Contains poems grouped into 18 thematic sections (19 in 2nd. ed.) ; each section has an introduction, notes and suggestions for study activities and further study. Biographical notes on authors and indexes also included. Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1988 pg. 35
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads [1993] Elizabeth Webby (editor), Philip Butterss (editor), Ringwood : Penguin , 1993 Z136407 1993 anthology poetry humour satire Ringwood : Penguin , 1993 pg. 65
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Classic Australian Verse Maggie Pinkney (editor), Noble Park : Five Mile Press , 2001 Z864790 2001 anthology poetry Noble Park : Five Mile Press , 2001 pg. 22-23
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Sunlines : An Anthology of Poetry to Celebrate Australia's Harmony in Diversity Anne Fairbairn (editor), Canberra : Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs , 2002 Z948024 2002 anthology poetry Canberra : Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs , 2002 pg. 4
    Note: With title: Jim Jones.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Our Country : Classic Australian Poetry : From the Colonial Ballads to Paterson & Lawson Michael Cook (editor), Seven Hills : Little Hills Press , 2004 Z1266972 2004 anthology poetry Seven Hills : Little Hills Press , 2004 pg. 52
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature Nicholas Jose (editor), Kerryn Goldsworthy (editor), Anita Heiss (editor), David McCooey (editor), Peter Minter (editor), Nicole Moore (editor), Elizabeth Webby (editor), Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2009 Z1590615 2009 anthology correspondence diary drama essay extract poetry prose short story (taught in 23 units)

    'Some of the best, most significant writing produced in Australia over more than two centuries is gathered in this landmark anthology. Covering all genres - from fiction, poetry and drama to diaries, letters, essays and speeches - the anthology maps the development of one of the great literatures in English in all its energy and variety.

    'The writing reflects the diverse experiences of Australians in their encounter with their extraordinary environment and with themselves. This is literature of struggle, conflict and creative survival. It is literature of lives lived at the extremes, of frontiers between cultures, of new dimensions of experience, where imagination expands.

    'This rich, informative and entertaining collection charts the formation of an Australian voice that draws inventively on Indigenous words, migrant speech and slang, with a cheeky, subversive humour always to the fore. For the first time, Aboriginal writings are interleaved with other English-language writings throughout - from Bennelong's 1796 letter to the contemporary flowering of Indigenous fiction and poetry - setting up an exchange that reveals Australian history in stark new ways.

    'From vivid settler accounts to haunting gothic tales, from raw protest to feisty urban satire and playful literary experiment, from passionate love poetry to moving memoir, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature reflects the creative eloquence of a society.

    'Chosen by a team of expert editors, who have provided illuminating essays about their selections, and with more than 500 works from over 300 authors, it is an authoritative survey and a rich world of reading to be enjoyed.' (Publisher's blurb)

    Allen and Unwin have a YouTube channel with a number of useful videos on the Anthology.

    Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2009
    pg. 75-76
First line of verse: "O listen for a moment, lads, and hear me tell my tale,=O, dengarkan sejenak, Nak, kisah ini biar kusampaikan,"
Language: English , Indonesian

Works about this Work

Ballad and Lyric in Australian Poetry Nelson Wattie , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth , Autumn vol. 10 no. 1 1987; (p. 68-76)
Ballad and Lyric in Australian Poetry Nelson Wattie , 1987 single work criticism
— Appears in: Commonwealth , Autumn vol. 10 no. 1 1987; (p. 68-76)
Last amended 6 Sep 2013 11:01:31
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X