[Editor: This song was published in Old Bush Songs: Composed and Sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days (8th edition, 1932), edited by Banjo Paterson.]
Then Give Me a Hut in my Own Native Land
Then give me a hut in my own native land,
Or a tent in the bush with the mountains so grand;
With the girl of my heart contented I’ll be,
With a dear native girl to share it with me.
Chorus
Then give me a hut in my own native land,
Or a tent in the bush with the mountains so grand;
With the girl of my heart contented I’ll be,
With a dear little native girl to share it with me.
In the gladness of springtime the song-birds give voice,
The trees and the herbage with flowers rejoice,
Kangaroos and emus bound o’er the emerald plain,
And the jackasses’ mirth bursts forth again and again.
Chorus: Then give me, etc.
When winter winds whistle and blast the sweet flowers,
How happy and cheerful we’ll then pass the hours
With mirth and sweet music, as all will agree,
In happy Australia, the land of the free.
Chorus: Then give me, etc.
Source:
A. B. Paterson (editor), Old Bush Songs: Composed and Sung in the Bushranging, Digging, and Overlanding Days (8th edition), Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1932, pp. 47-48
Editor’s notes:
give voice = to speak out; to give one’s opinion; to express a desire, emotion, feeling, or thought
jackass = “laughing jackass” (kookaburra)
native = (in the context of Australia) an Australian-born person, a native-born Australian; can also refer to an Australian Aborigine
native land = the land of one’s birth (the country where one was born); homeland, native ground, native soil; the area or region where one was born
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
[Editor: The word “Chorus” (which is used several times in this song) has been put into italics (Chorus) so as to distinguish it from the text of the song.]
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