• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

A Bullock-Driver’s Song [song by Louis Esson]

8 May 2016 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This song by Louis Esson was published in Red Gums and Other Verses (1912).]

A Bullock-Driver’s Song.

Gerrout!
Yer gives er man the drought
Callin’ yer, an’ haulin’ yer
In the crick an’ out.

* * *

Mud an’ slush an’ slime!
Yer Hindu calves, it’s time
Ter pull ther lovely log
Outer this gawd-sent bog. . .
But ain’t yers rollin’ fat?
My oath! we’ll work orf that!

* * *

There and back
Always on the track.
I ain’t the bloke ter curse,
I’ve seen the travellin’ worse.
Gee-on, there, up the hill,
It’s ten mile ter the mill.
Ten mile o’ pretty goin’
Wi’ roarin’ cricks o’erflowin’,
Trees fallen, Hell-fire streamin’
An’ pantin’ bullocks steamin’.

* * *

Me curse on flooded lakes,
An’ bless the big black bogs
Choked wi’ stumps an’ logs,
An’ tracks wot twist like snakes!

* * *

Come-hee, yer sinners, now!
Bill, yer spotted Sow!
Tom, yer crimson Crawler!
Pete, yer purple Brawler!
Ye’re slower’ nor yer granny,
Yairs, I’m a-torkin’ to you, Danny,
Gerrup, yer scarlet Cow!




Source:
Louis Esson, Red Gums and Other Verses, Melbourne: Fraser & Jenkinson, 1912, pages 42-43

Editor’s notes:
bloke = man, chap, fellow

crick = creek

crimson = a euphemism for “bloody”

granny = grandmother

o’erflowing = overflowing

pretty going = hard going; hard work

purple = a euphemism for “bloody” (may also refer to rude or shocking language)

scarlet = a euphemism for “bloody”

Vernacular spelling in the original text:
ain’t (am not)
ain’t (aren’t; are not)
an’ (and)
come-hee (come here)
er (a)
gawd (god)
gerrout (get out)
gerrup (get up)
o’ (of)
orf (off)
outer (out of)
ter (to)
ther (the)
torkin’ (talking)
wi’ (with)
wot (what)
yairs (yes)
yer (you)
ye’re (you’re; you are)
yers (“yous”; you) [plural]

Filed Under: songs Tagged With: Louis Esson (1878-1943) (author), Red Gums and Other Verses (Louis Esson 1912), song, SourceIACLibrary, year1912

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Writers, workers, and wages. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
Significant events and commemorative dates
A list of significant Australiana
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian explorers
Australian literature
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

Barcroft Boake
E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Died on Active Service / Heroes of the Empire [Australian military personnel (WW1, WW2), 24 April 1943]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Fossicker’s claim, Daylesford [postcard, circa 1905-1912]
  • The Bathing Beach Flinders [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • The Lass of Yackandandah [poem, 11 June 1857]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang, words, and phrases
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Timeline of Australian history and culture
  • Drop Bears

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • Keith Street on Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • IAC on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Paul on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Floyd Black on Eurunderee [poem by Henry Lawson]
  • Warren fahey on The Institute of Australian Culture: An introduction

For Australia

Copyright © 2025 · Log in