• 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 Great Calamity [poem by Banjo Paterson]

4 May 2012 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This poem by “Banjo” Paterson was published in The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, 1895; previously published in The Bulletin, 19 August 1893.]

The Great Calamity

MacFierce’un came to Whiskeyhurst
When summer days were hot,
And bided there wi’ Jock MacThirst,
A brawny brother Scot.
Gude faith! They made the whisky fly
Like Highland chieftains true,
And when they’d drunk the beaker dry
They sang, ‘We are nae fou!’

‘There’s nae folk like oor ain folk,
‘Sae gallant and sae true.’
They sang the only Scottish joke
Which is, ‘We are nae fou.’

Said bold MacThirst, ‘Let Saxons jaw
‘Aboot their great concerns,
‘But Bonnie Scotland beats them a’,
‘The Land o’ cakes and Burns,
‘The land o’ partridge, deer, and grouse,
‘Fill up your glass, I beg,
‘There’s muckle whiskey i’ the house,
‘Forbye what’s in the keg.’

And here a hearty laugh he laughed,
‘Just come wi’ me, I beg.’
MacFierce’un saw with pleasure daft
A fifty-gallon keg.

‘Losh, man, that’s graund,’ MacFierce’un cried,
‘Saw ever man the like,
‘Now, wi’ the daylicht, I maun ride
‘To meet a Southron tyke,
‘But I’ll be back ere summer’s gone,
‘So bide for me, I beg,
‘We’ll mak’ a grand assault upon
‘Yon deevil of a keg.’

* * * * * *

MacFierce’un rode to Whiskeyhurst
When summer days were gone,
And there he met with Jock MacThirst
Was greetin’ all alone.
‘MacThirst, what gars ye look sae blank,?
‘Have all your wits gane daft?
‘Has that accursed Southron bank
‘Called up your overdraft?
‘Is all your grass burnt up wi’ drouth?
‘Is wool and hides gone flat?’
MacThirst replied, ‘Gude friend, in truth,
‘’Tis muckle waur than that.’

‘Has sair misfortune cursed your life
‘That you should weep sae free?
‘Is harm upon your bonny wife,
‘The children at your knee?
‘Is scaith upon your house and hame?”
MacThirst upraised his head:
‘My bairns hae done the deed of shame —
‘’Twere better they were dead.

‘To think my bonnie infant son
‘Should do the deed o’ guilt —
‘He let the whuskey spigot run,
‘And a’ the whuskey’s spilt?
’

* * * * * *

Upon them both these words did bring
A solemn silence deep,
Gude faith, it is a fearsome thing
To see two strong men weep.



Source:
Andrew Barton Paterson. The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1896 [January 1896 reprinting of the October 1895 edition], pages 171-173

Previously published in: The Bulletin, 19 August 1893

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Banjo Paterson (1864-1941) (author), humorous poetry, poem, SourceArchiveOrg, The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses (Banjo Paterson 1895), year1895

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

  • EC83 A loving greeting [postcard, 15 April 1913]
  • Market St., Sydney [postcard, 3 April 1913]
  • Kangaroo and Map stamps
  • A billabong: Goulbourn River [postcard, 27 November 1907]
  • Dear Mac [postcard, early 20th Century]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Australian slang
  • The Bard and the Lizard [poem by John Shaw Neilson]

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