[Editor: This song is an sea shanty, believed to be of British origin. With its Australian theme and wide popularity, it has become part of Australia’s folk music tradition. Click here to see some videos of this song being played. As is common with folk songs which have been passed around by word of mouth, there are several variations of the same song in existence.]
South Australia
In South Australia I was born,
Heave away, haul away
In South Australia, round Cape Horn,
We’re bound for South Australia
[Chorus]
Heave away, you rolling king,
Heave away, haul away
Heave away, oh hear me sing,
We’re bound for South Australia
As I walked out one morning fair,
Heave away, haul away
’Twas there I met Miss Nancy Blair,
We’re bound for South Australia
I shook her up, I shook her down,
Heave away, haul away
I shook her round and round the town,
We’re bound for South Australia
When I sailed far across the sea,
Heave away, haul away
My girl said she’d be true to me,
We’re bound for South Australia
There’s only one thing grieves my mind,
Heave away, haul away
Is to leave Miss Nancy Blair behind,
We’re bound for South Australia
And now I’m on some foreign strand,
Heave away, haul away
With a bottle of whiskey in my hand,
We’re bound for South Australia
And as we wallop around Cape Horn,
Heave away, haul away
You’ll wish to God you’d never been born,
We’re bound for South Australia.
Editor’s notes:
As this is a folk song, there are various versions, often with only minor differences, but sometimes with entirely different verses.
Cape Horn = a rocky headland on Hornos Island (part of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, Chile), located off the southern coast of South America; it was named after Hoorn, the birthplace of the Dutch navigator Willem Corneliszoon Schouten (ca. 1567-1625), who sailed round Hornos Island in 1616
See: 1) “Cape Horn”, Wikipedia
2) “Willem Schouten”, Wikipedia
strand = land bordering a body of water, such as a beach or shore adjoining the sea; less commonly, may also refer to a beach or shore adjoining a lake or river (can also refer to a small brook or rivulet)
’twas = (archaic) a contraction of “it was”
wallop = (archaic; dialectal) gallop (still in use in some places, in England and Scotland)
References:
“[Bound for] South Australia: the song”, Bound for South Australia
“South Australia”, Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music
“Bound for South Australia”, Australian Folk Songs
“South Australia”, The Mudcat Café
“South Australia”, Shanties & Sea Songs
“South Australia”, Musica International
“The Pogues – South Australia”, Song Meanings
“South Australia”, London Sea Shanty Collective
“Bound for South Australia”, Anitra
“South Australia”, Bounding Main
“Bound for South Australia”, Whistle Tabs
Laura Alexandrine Smith, The Music of the Waters: A Collection of the Sailors’ Chanties, or Working Songs of the Sea, of all Maritime Nations: Boatmen’s, Fishermen’s, and Rowing Songs, and Water Legends, London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1888, p. 49
“New Recordings: Outback songs”, The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 26 August 1959, p. 63 (column 3)
“South Australia (song)”, Wikipedia
The earliest record of this song is from American, Pease Harlow on board the Akbar in Melbourne in 1876.
It as a true capstan shanty does not have “heave AND Haul” in the chorus only Heave away. A somewhat bawdier version than that sung at school, where the sailor is meeting the madames at the Port Melbourne quay (the Sandridge railroad pier). Also refers to she-oak beer, a term for rough bush beer only used in the 1870s to 1880s.
South Australia is my native home
Heave Away, Heave away
Mountains rich in quartz and sand
I am bound for South Australia
Chorus
Heave away, Heave away,
Heave away you Ruler King
I am bound for South Australia
Gold and wood brings ships to our shore
And our coal will bring many more
Here’s a packet off the pier
Three’s a bar ashore with foaming beer
Heave! Oh Heave! And we‘ll all go ashore
Where we will drink with girls galore
Glasses filled we’ll touch with a clink
Heave! bullies heave!The girls want a drink
I see Julia standing on the quay
With a dame for you and me
At the head of Sandridge Railroad pier
Straight to Mother Shilling’s we’ll steer
Julia slings the she-oak at the bar
And welcomes sailors from afar
In the dance hall there you’ll pick your girl
With golden hair and teeth of pearl
She will drink you blind while at the bar
And will call you “Dear, my own Jack Tar”
She’ll waltz you round in a dizzie dance
While you’re half drunk and in a trance
Then we’ll drink to Mother Shilling’s name
And drink again to the lovely dame
In the arms of girls we’ll dance and sing
For she-oak will be Ruler King
Drunk! For the she-oaks gone to our head
The girls can put us all to bed.