[Editor: This song was published in Old Bush Songs: Composed and Sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days (8th edition, 1932), edited by Banjo Paterson.]
Banks of Riverine
Hark! Hark! the dogs are barking, I can no longer stay;
The boys have all gone shearing, so I heard the shepherd say;
So I must be off in the morning, love, though it’s many a weary mile,
To meet the Victorian shearers on the banks of Riverine.
“Oh, Willie, dearest Willie, you know you should not go,
For if you leave me here, love, my heart will break in two;
The parting from you, Willie, is like parting with my life —
Go and be a selector, love, and I will be your wife.”
Oh, Nancy, loving Nancy, you know that I must go,
The squatters they expect me their shearing for to do,
And when I’m on the Yanco, love, I’ll think of you with pride,
And my shears they will go freely when I’m on the whipping side.
“Oh, Willie, dearest Willie, I’ll go along with you;
I’ll dress myself in male attire, and be a shearer too;
I’ll shear and keep your tally, my love, and a ringer you will shine,
And I’ll wash your greasy breeches on the banks of Riverine.”
Oh, Nancy, lovely Nancy, you know you cannot go,
The squatters have given orders “no women shall do so;”
Besides, your delicate stomach, love, is not equal unto mine,
To digest the ram-stag mutton on the banks of Riverine.
And when the shearing’s over, love, I’ll make you my dear wife;
We’ll go and get married, love, and settle down for life;
And, when the day’s work’s over, love, in the evenings calm and fine,
I’ll tell you of those sandy cobblers on the banks of Riverine.
Source:
A. B. Paterson (editor), Old Bush Songs: Composed and Sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days (8th edition), Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1932, pp. 69-70
Editor’s notes:
breeches = trousers; short trousers which cover the hips and thighs, and usually fastening just below the knees, worn in the 17th to early 19th Centuries (in modern times, mainly worn for horse riding or for ceremonies)
mutton = the meat of an adult sheep (as used for food)
ram-stag = a gelded ram (a castrated male sheep); a male sheep castrated as an adult
ringer = the fastest shearer in a shearing shed
Riverine = the Riverina: a region of south-western New South Wales, which encompasses the Murrumbidgee River, Coolamon, Cootamundra, Deniliquin, Finley, Griffith, Gundagai, Jerilderie, Junee, Leeton, Narrandera, Temora, Tocumwal, Wagga Wagga, and West Wyalong
selector = the purchaser of an area of land obtained by free-selection; land legislation in Australia in the1860s was passed by several colonies which enabled people to obtain land for farming, whereby they could nominate a limited area of land to rent or buy, being able to select land which had not yet been surveyed (hence the phrase “free selection before survey”) and even obtain land previously leased by squatters (although squatters were able to buy sections of their land, up to a designated limit; with many of them buying up further sections under the names of family members, friends, and employees)
squatter = in the context of Australian history, a squatter was originally someone who kept their livestock (mostly cattle and sheep) upon Crown land without permission to do so (thus illegally occupying land, or “squatting”); however, the practice became so widespread that eventually the authorities decided to formalise it by granting leases or licenses to occupy or use the land; and, with the growth of the Australian economy, many of the squatters became quite rich, and the term “squatter” came to refer to someone with a large amount of farm land (they were often regarded as rich and powerful)
whipping side = the right side of a sheep; the right side of a convict (as most wielders of whips were right-handed, floggers would commonly stand to the left of the convicts to flog them, with the tail end of the whip therefore doing the most damage to the middle and right side of the backs of convicts)
Willie = a diminutive form of “William”; there are several diminutive forms of William: Bill, Billie, Billy, Will, Willie, Wills, Willy, (Scottish) Wullie
Yanco = Yanco Creek, in New South Wales, which can be traced from the Murrumbidgee River and Yanco Weir, past Burnside, Wirrani, and Yanco Park, running parallel to the Newell Highway, and past Kooringal, Bundure, to Billabong Creek (east of Conargo); a town in New South Wales, located north of Yanco Weir and south of Leeton
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