[Editor: This song was published in The North Melbourne Advertiser (14 March 1890). It was also included in Banjo Paterson’s collection, The Old Bush Songs (1905), with some variations.]
The Old Bullock Dray
Oh, the shearing is all over and the wool is coming down,
And I mean to get a wife, boys, when I go to town;
Everything has a mate that presents itself to view,
From the little paddy-melon to the big kangaroo.
I have got a big cheque and I mean to buy a team,
And when I get a wife, boys, ’twill all be serene;
I will go to the depot where I hear there’s no delay,
And I’ll buy an off-sider for the Old Bullock Dray.
Chorus.
So roll up your bundle and let us make a push,
I will take you up the country and show you the bush;
I am sure such a treat you’ll not get another day,
So let’s be off and take possession of the Old Bullock Dray.
We will have no hesitation about the honeymoon,
We will join our hands together and we’ll jump across the broom;
In the manners of the country, we won’t be the very first,
But what we save from the parson, we will spend upon the burst, (‘bust.’)
We’ll have beef and damper, of that there’ll be enough,
And we’ll boil in the bucket such a whopper of a duff;
And my mates will all dance in the honour of the day,
To the music of the bells around the Old Bullock Dray.
Cho. — So roll up, &c.
If you’re fond of good living I am just the very man,
We’ll have johnnies on the coals and fritters in the pan;
If you’d like a little fish I can catch it for you soon,
There are plenty paddy-melons on the banks of the lagoon.
Oh, I’ll teach you use the whip, and the bullocks neat to flog,
You’ll be my offsiding duck when we fall into a bog;
Use the whip out right and loft at all that comes your way,
Make the horn and hide fly around the Old Bullock Dray,
Cho. — So roll up, &c.
Now it’s time I had an answer if there is one to be had,
I wouldn’t treat a steer in the body half as bad;
For you pay no more attention, no you don’t upon my soul,
Than the old off-sider on the pole.
If you have nothing more to say at your door will lie the sin,
For I’ll go back to the country and marry a black gin.
Budgee dee white fellow, old blackamoor will say,
Goody goody white fellow and his Old Bullock Dray.
Cho. — So roll up, &c.
Source:
The North Melbourne Advertiser (North Melbourne, Vic.), Friday 14 March 1890, page 3
[Editor: The word “burst”, with “bust” in brackets, is how the text appeared in the original newspaper. Added a hyphen to the second instance of “off-sider”.]
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