• 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

Badger, My Gray [song, 13 October 1894]

30 April 2013 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A song published in The Queenslander, 13 October 1894.]

Badger, My Gray.

(Supplied by R.C.L., Forest Vale.)

The coachman may boast of the speed of his mail,
The conductor may talk of his steam and his rail,
But for travelling long journeys on day after day
O’er Australia’s rough roads give me Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, Badger, my gray;
O’er Australia’s rough roads give me Badger, my gray.

At dawn in the morning he’s round at my door;
He’s just fifteen hands, may be half-an-inch more.
With my swag strapped before me no longer I stay,
But throw my leg over him, Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

We jog o’er the hills and we canter the plains
Till glorious Sol the meridian attains,
When a white cottage inn appears just in my way,
And I stop for an hour to bait Badger, my gray,

Badger, my gray, &c.

He snorts, drinks his water, and eats up his maize,
Pricks his ears and says, “Master, we’ll start if ye plaze.”
I quaff up my ale, then proceed on my way,
Now smoking, now singing to Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

Twenty miles more are over by evening’s close,
When again does the hostel invite to repose;
I give him to the ostler, then order my tray,
Then round to look after him, Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

His feet and legs washed, himself dry as a bone,
Bedded up to his belly, best leave him alone;
He’s drunk up his water, his rack’s filled with hay,
And he’s eating his maize up is Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

With my cold round of beef, or my chicken and ham,
With my feet o’er the fender how cozy I am;
Pipe in mouth I con over the events of the day,
Nor bother my head about Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

I turn in at nine, and sleep soundly till morn,
When awoke by the shrill blast of chanticleer’s horn,
Quickly dressing I hie to the stable away
To see him again fed, Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

Breakfast over, once more Badger’s brought to the door,
And again forty miles are performed as before,
And thus at long journey’s work, day after day,
Fresh, hearty, and game is Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

Then talk not to me of your big half-bred hack,
He’s all very well without me on his back;
Your clumsy coach stallion, your big Cleveland bay
He’d kill in a week, would Badger, my gray.

Badger, my gray, &c.

For Badger can boast of a pedigree good,
His sire joined Steeltrap’s to Camerton’s blood,
His grandam pure Arab; so now need I say
Why he’s good for a journey is Badger, my gray?

Badger, my gray, Badger, my gray,
Why he’s good for a journey is Badger, my gray.

J.T.L.



Source:
The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), 13 October 1894, page 692

Filed Under: songs Tagged With: song, SourceTrove, year1894

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. 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
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
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

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

  • Australia Day [26 January 1953]
  • Australia Day [24 January 1953]
  • Australia Day [29 January 1951]
  • Australia Day [28 January 1950]
  • Danger-signals from Australia [2 January 1942]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Dollars or rum: Early Australian currency [by J. H. M. Abbott, 1 April 1931]
  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]

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

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in