• 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

The Cocky’s Handy Man [poem by Ben Sun]

22 September 2012 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by Ben Sun was published in The Bulletin Reciter, 1901.]

The Cocky’s Handy Man.

The soldier has his glory, and the sailor has his joy,
And we’ve heard in song and story of the little cabin-boy ;
The shearer’s mostly beering when he is n’t on the strike ;
The city clerk’s careering on the “time-extended” bike ;
Their web of life they spin it on a fast and fevered plan,
But for fun they aren’t in it with the cocky’s handy man !

Then it’s feed the squealing “Dinnis,” and it’s yard the milkers up ;
The sun’s behind Maginnis; an’ — “Hi! Patsy, chain that pup !
Put up thim rails behind you, there, you good-for-nothing lout ;
’T is often I remind you — Holy Smoke ! the pig is out !

Here, Tiger — heel him — heel him! head him, Patsy, at the fince ;
Hurr — hiss, Tiger! wheel him, there, you gaping want-o’-sinse.”
And “Dinnis” listens gravely to the wild halloo they raise,
Then runs the gauntlet bravely into Dan Malowny’s “pays.”

The carrier is jolly, and the drover does n’t care;
The navvy’s full of folly, and a demon on the “tear” ;
The miner has his “moments,” and the syndicate the mine ;
The “push” a ruction foments when it ’s out upon the wine ;
But for rorty joy and rapid under Heaven’s spacious span
The chance you cannot cap it of the cocky’s handy man !

Then it’s git up, Captain — Punch, there — that’s a coo-ee from the stack ;
They’re eating all the lunch there — but Kitty ’ll save my whack ;
Her eyes are black and blazing, but for me they ’re ever kind.
And in their depths a-gazing I can read a willing mind.
Gee-off ! — this blessed lurching knocks the neatest load awry,
And clouds of flies are searching in recess of nose and eye.
Way — woh — look-out! it’s over. Oh, condemn the crimson hole !
I ’m booked an early “rover” — hear Maginnis bless my soul !

There are places and positions worth the while of man to hold,
And phases and conditions with the shining sheen of gold ;
But, O! the situation when I Kitty’s waist enfold —
I’d change not for creation fair the billet that I hold ;
Through Labour’s ranks a-ranging find a fellow if you can
Who ’d lose by places changing with the cocky’s handy man !

Ben Sun.



Source:
A.G. Stephens (editor). The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from “The Bulletin” [1880-1901], The Bulletin Newspaper Company, Sydney, 1902 [first published 1901], pages 164-166

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: poem, SourceArchiveOrg, The Bulletin Reciter (1901), year1901

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

  • Danger-signals from Australia [2 January 1942]
  • Australian Commonwealth: Kangaroo issues [1964]
  • Phil Ately [re the Kangaroo and Map stamps, 29 April 1931]
  • Concerning a stamp [17 July 1913]
  • [From Greek literature to the new Australian postage stamp] [23 April 1913]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Australian slang
  • Clancy of The Overflow [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

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • 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

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in