[Editor: This version of the song “South Australia” was published in A Wanderer’s Songs of the Sea (1902), a book of songs collected by an American, Charles Keeler, in his travels around the Pacific Ocean.]
South Australia.
Our bark for South Australia sails
And on we ride through trades and gales ;
Heave away, haul away!
In South Australia I was reared,
And in its bush I grew my beard ;
Heave away, haul away!
I love its horses and its men,
I love its wattles in the glen ;
Heave away, haul away!
I ve roamed through gum-trees’ endless shade,
I ve herded sheep from glade to glade ;
Heave away, haul away!
I ve mined for gold, I’ve played for gain,
And cruised along the Spanish Main ;
Heave away, haul away!
O South Australia’s wild and free !
I had a girl, but she jilted me ;
Heave away, haul away!
She stole my watch and ran away,
I’ll meet my Kate again some day !
Heave away, haul away!
For we re bound for South Australia’s shore
And Kate will greet me as of yore,
Heave away, haul away!
Source:
Charles Keeler. A Wanderer’s Songs of the Sea, A.M. Robertson, San Francisco, 1902, pages 32-33
The Institute of Australian Culture
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