[Editor: This song was published in The Old Bush Songs (1905), edited by Banjo Paterson. It was previously published (with minor variations), under the title of “The Stockman’s Song”, in The Empire, 3 June 1863.]
The Australian Stockman
The sun peers o’er yon wooded ridge and thro’ the forest dense,
Its golden edge o’er the mountain ledge looks down on the stockyard fence,
Looks down, looks down, looks down on the stockyard fence;
And dark creeks rush thro’ the tangled brush, when the shuddering shadows throng
Until they chime in the rude rough rhyme of the wild goburra’s song.
Chorus
Till they chime, ha! ha! till they chime, ha! ha! in the wild goburra’s song;
Till they chime, ha! ha! till they chime, ha! ha! in the wild goburra’s song.
The night owl to her home hath fled, to shun the glorious pomp
Of golden day she speeds away to her nest in the tea-tree swamp;
Away, away to her nest in the tea-tree swamp.
The dingo looks with a timid stare as he stealthily prowls along,
And his pattering feet in concert beat with the wild goburra’s song.
Chorus: And they beat, ha! ha! &c.
Oh! let them boast their city’s wealth, who toil in a dusty town;
Give me the beam on the mountain stream, and the range’s dark-laced frown —
The stream, the stream, and the range’s dark-faced frown.
When our steed shall pass o’er the quiv’ring grass, and the crack of the sounding throng
Shall bid the startled echoes join the wild goburra’s song.
Chorus: And they join, ha ha! &c.
Source:
A. B. Paterson (editor), The Old Bush Songs, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1905, pp. 114-115
Previously published (with minor variations, under the title of “The Stockman’s Song”) in:
The Empire (Sydney, NSW), 3 June 1863, p. 5 [which includes a notation at the end (about the kookaburra) which states ““Goburra” is the aboriginal, and certainly more euphonious name of the bird commonly known as the “laughing jackass.””; this was included in a column entitled “Australian bush-ballads: By F. S. Wilson”, although that attribution would seem to apply to the column rather than the songs included therein]
Leave a Reply