The Broken-Down Squatter [song, 1905]

[Editor: This song was published in The Old Bush Songs (1905), edited by Banjo Paterson. It was previously published (without the chorus), under the title of “The Squatter’s Farewell”, in The Queenslander, 1 November 1884.]

The Broken-Down Squatter

(Air: “It’s a fine hunting day”)

Come, Stumpy, old man, we must shift while we can;
All your mates in the paddock are dead.
Let us wave our farewells to Glen Eva’s sweet dells
And the hills where your lordship was bred;
Together to roam from our drought-stricken home —
It seems hard that such things have to be,
And its hard on a “hoss” when he’s nought for a boss
But a broken-down squatter like me!

Chorus
For the banks are all broken, they say,
And the merchants are all up a tree.
When the bigwigs are brought to the Bankruptcy Court,
What chance for a squatter like me.

No more shall we muster the river for fats,
Or spiel on the Fifteen-mile plain,
Or rip through the scrub by the light of the moon,
Or see the old stockyard again.
Leave the slip-panels down, it won’t matter much now;
There are none but the crows left to see,
Perching gaunt in yon pine, as though longing to dine
On a broken-down squatter like me.

Chorus: For the banks, &c.

When the country was cursed with the drought at its worst,
And the cattle were dying in scores,
Though down on my luck, I kept up my pluck,
Thinking justice might temper the laws.
But the farce has been played, and the Government aid
Ain’t extended to squatters, old son;
When my dollars were spent they doubled the rent,
And resumed the best half of the run.

Chorus: For the banks, &c.

’Twas done without reason, for leaving the season
No squatter could stand such a rub;
For it’s useless to squat when the rents are so hot
That one can’t save the price of one’s grub;
And there’s not much to choose ’twist the banks and the Jews
Once a fellow gets put up a tree;
No odds what I feel, there’s no court of appeal
For a broken-down squatter like me.

Chorus: For the banks, &c.

Source:
A. B. Paterson (editor), The Old Bush Songs, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1905, pp. 56-57

Previously published (without the chorus; under the title of “The Squatter’s Farewell”) in:
The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), 1 November 1884, p. 705

Also published in:
The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), 30 June 1894, p. 1220

Editor’s notes:
The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), 21 July 1894, p. 116, has the following notation: “The author of “The Broken-down Squatter,” published on 30th June, is Mr. Charles A. Flower, of Durham Downs, who wrote the verses ten years ago and sent them to the Queenslander.”