• 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

Jugger [poem by Louis Esson]

8 May 2016 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by Louis Esson was published in Red Gums and Other Verses (1912). The poem is written from the viewpoint of someone celebrating the release of a friend from jail.]

Jugger.

Give the push the office,
Pass the ’at erlong,
Won’t the Flying Angels
’Ave er dance and song!
We’ve er busker organ,
Beer, an’ crimson cr’y,
Won’t we blow the froth orf!
Jugger’s owt ter-d’y.

Jugger got er sixer,
Toppin’ orf er John,
Stouched ’im wi er bottle,
Back o’ Little Lon.
Wen they tried ter bluff ’im
Give the push aw’y,
Swore blind ’e never seen us,
Jugger’s owt ter-d’y.

Won’t them ’awkers edge it
Wen ’e passes now!
Not er shutter lifted
Since they jugged ’im. Yow!
Not er decent mix-up
Since ’e went aw’y.
Won’t it nark the rozzers!
Jugger’s owt ter-d’y.

All the tarts iz waitin’,
Lining Little Lon,
In ther flashest clobber,
Battlin’ ter git on.
Floss and Mag and Clara —
Won’t the feathers fly
Wen ’e picks the winner!
Jugger’s owt ter-d’y.

Watch the Johns go steady,
’E’s the bloke to fite,
’E’s the peb, gorblime,
Blow eround ter-nite.
Sling yer ’arf-er-dollar,
Tords the beer an’ cr’y,
It’s up to us to do ’im proud,
Jugger’s owt ter-d’y.



Source:
Louis Esson, Red Gums and Other Verses, Melbourne: Fraser & Jenkinson, 1912, pages 36-37

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

clobber = clothes; accessories, equipment, personal belongings, or supplies (can also mean to strike someone severely; beat, criticize, defeat, or treat harshly)

feathers fly = fight (a reference to a cock fight between roosters, as their feathers fly, or come off them, during the course of their battle)

flash = showy, vulgar; fashionable or showy, but often in a way that shows a lack of taste

gorblime = an exclamation which expresses surprise (a contraction of the phrase “God blind me”, which is believed to be a shorter version of “May God blind me if it is not so”, or similar phrases, used to assert truthfulness); variations include “cor blimey”, “corblimey”, “gawblimy”, “gawblimey”, “gorblime”, and “gorblimey”

jugged = put into prison (“jug” is slang for jail/gaol)

Little Lon = Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

nark = annoy, irritate, upset (can also refer to an informer, stool pigeon, or spy)

pass the hat = raise money (from the practice of passing an upturned hat around a group of people for them to put in money, so as to raise funds)

push = a gang; historically, the term refers to a street gang; may also be used to refer to a group

rozzer = policeman; police (also spelt “rosser”)

sixer = a six month sentence in jail

stouch = hit, punch (stoush may also mean to fight or brawl)

tart = a young woman; C. J. Dennis, in the glossary for The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, says that the word is a contraction of “sweetheart” (a later meaning is: a woman who behaves or dresses in such a way as to be considered sexually provocative; an older meaning is: prostitute)

Vernacular spelling in the original text:
an’ (and)
’arf-er-dollar (half-a-dollar)
’at (hat)
’ave (have)
’awker (hawker)
aw’y (away)
’e (he)
er (a)
erlong (along)
eround (around)
fite (fight)
git (get)
’im (him)
iz (is)
o’ (of)
orf (off)
owt (out)
ter (to)
ter-d’y (to-day; today)
ter-nite (to-night; tonight)
ther (their)
tords (towards)
waitin’ (waiting)
wen (when)
wi (with)
yer (your)

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

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

  • A billabong: Goulbourn River [postcard, 27 November 1907]
  • Dear Mac [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • The New to the Old [poem by Randolph Bedford, 3 January 1896]
  • New Year greetings [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • New Year greetings [postcard, early 20th Century]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Australian slang
  • Timeline of Australian history and culture
  • Click Go the Shears [folk music, lyrics; traditional Australian song, 1890s]
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]

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

  • 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
  • Ju on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • David Carroll on Queensland [poem by Philip Durham Lorimer]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in