[Editor: This poem, regarding the pay rates of workers in the shearing industry, was published in The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 9 September 1893.]
The Song of the Rollicking Rouseabout.
Shearing season fast approaches,
Squatters giving smaller pay:
Fifteen bob a week and tucker —
Half-a-caser every day!
Half-a-caser when they’re shearing,
When it’s raining they get nix;
That’s the wages on the stations —
Hours of labor, six to six.
Still they say the working classes
They are blessed in this bright land
(Where they get their slaving asses
I could never understand).
Men, they call them — that’s an error,
’Tis a libel, to be sure:
He who stands the half-a-caser
Should be called a squatter’s ——
(Last word indistinct. — PRINTER.)
R.
Source:
The Worker (Sydney, NSW), 9 September 1893, p. 3
Editor’s notes:
The missing word in the last line of the poem is believed to be “whore” (which rhymes with “sure”).
—— = two em dashes (or a variant number of em dashes) can be used to indicate swearing, just as “****”, “$#*!”, “#$@&%*!”, or similar, can indicate swearing (a series of typographical symbols used to indicate profanity is called a “grawlix”); an em dash is an extended dash (also known as an “em rule” or a “horizontal bar”), being a dash which is as wide as the height of the font being used (em dashes can also be used in place of a person’s name, so as to ensure anonymity; or used to indicate an unknown word)
bob = a shilling (equivalent to twelve pence); after the decimalisation of the Australian currency in 1966, the monetary equivalent of a shilling was ten cents; the phrase “a couple of bob” could specifically refer to two shillings (and, later on, to twenty cents), but it was generally a common reference to a small amount of money, as in “Can you lend me a couple of bob?”
caser = a crown, five shillings
nix = nothing, zero (from the German “nichts”, meaning nothing); no; a rejection; to disagree, prohibit, or reject (also, in German mythology, a water being, sometimes described as a demon or monster, which is half-human and half-fish)
rollicking = to be boisterous, carefree, exuberant, joyous, or merry; to act or behave in a carefree, merry, or boisterous manner; something which is boisterous, carefree, entertaining, enjoyable, joyous, light-hearted, and merry (especially in a noisy fashion) such as a rollicking book, movie, story, event, or party
rouseabout = an unskilled worker, someone employed to carry out odd jobs or unskilled tasks, especially used regarding someone working in a shearing shed
squatter = in the context of Australian history, a squatter was originally someone who kept their livestock (mostly cattle and sheep) upon Crown land without permission to do so (thus illegally occupying land, or “squatting”); however, the practice became so widespread that eventually the authorities decided to formalise it by granting leases or licenses to occupy or use the land; and, with the growth of the Australian economy, many of the squatters became quite rich, and the term “squatter” came to refer to someone with a large amount of farm land (they were often regarded as rich and powerful)
stand = accept, cope with, endure, put up with, tolerate
station = a large rural holding used for raising livestock, usually sheep or cattle (a pastoral property); can also refer to the principal homestead and main business centre of a pastoral property
See: “Station (Australian agriculture)”, Wikipedia
’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”
tucker = food
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