• 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

When First I Landed Here [song by Charles Thatcher, 1857]

8 July 2012 · Leave a Comment

When First I Landed Here.

A new original song, by Thatcher.
Tune — “When first I went to sea.”

When first I landed here,
I was struck quite with surprise,
For everything was precious dear,
And rents quite high, no flies.
And rents, &c.

I knew not what to do,
For it made me look quite blue,
When I got on Sandridge pier, my boys,
Affairs seemed awful queer, my boys!
And I dropped many a tear, my boys!
When first I landed here.

When first I landed here,
Everything appeared quite strange;
And when you purchased at the shops,
You seldom got your change.
You seldom got, &c.

Shopkeepers then gave cheek,
But they’re now servile and meek;
Most civilly they invite, my boys,
You at their goods to take a sight, my boys,
They’re a great deal mere polite, my boys,
Than when I landed here.

When first I landed here,
Lots of chaps, no matter who,
In business without funds would start,
And their creditors would do.
And their creditors would do.

They went a-head slap dash;
But they’ve made an awful smash.
And fellows of this sort, my boys,
Go through th’ Insolvent Court, my boys,
And their dog-carts they can’t sport, my boys,
Like when I landed here.

When first I landed here,
Folks rushed to Bendigo;
And went and pitched in Eagle Hawk,
Where lobs were made you know.
Where lobs; &c.

But those days are now gone by;
Getting rich is all my eye;
The Chinese swarm around, my boys,
Puddling every bit of ground, my boys,
And the nuggets are not found, my boys,
Like when I landed here.

When first I landed here,
A tidy sum you’d pay,
If you wanted any one to take
Your boxes on a dray.
Your boxes on a dray.

But the draymen are done brown;
Busses run now in the town;
For threepence you can ride, my boys!
On the knifeboard or inside, my boys!
But no conveyances plied, my boys,
When first I landed here.

When first I landed here,
Folks rushed to purchase land,
No matter if ’twas but a swamp,
They went hand over hand.
They went, &c.

But a lesson lots have learnt,
For their fingers they have burnt;
And each roguish auctioneer, my boys,
Finds his trade get worse each year, my boys,
Champagne won’t draw, ’tis clear, my boys,
Like when first I landed here.

When first I landed here,
Gals were few and far between;
Rich diggers took ’em as they came,
But now they’re not so green.
But now, &c.

Missis Chisholm’s lot is thick,
We now can take our pick;
There’s all sorts, dark and fair, my boys,
Down from black to carroty hair, my boys,
But they were uncommon rare, my boys,
When first I landed here.



Source:
Charles R. Thatcher. Thatcher’s Colonial Songster, Containing All the Choice Local Songs, Parodies, &c., of the Celebrated Chas. R. Thatcher, Charlwood & Son, Melbourne, 1857, pages 3-5

Editor’s notes:
champagne = champagne was used by auctioneers to draw in customers to auctions [see the references to champagne in Charles Thatcher’s songs “Buying Land”, “It’s All Right”, and “When First I Landed Here”]

Chisholm = Caroline Chisholm, who was heavily involved in promoting the welfare of female immigrants to Australia

[Editor: Corrected took em’ to took ’em.]

Filed Under: songs Tagged With: Charles Thatcher (1830-1878) (author), Editor’s notes, Editor’s notes2, song, SourceSLV, Thatcher’s Colonial Songster (Charles Thatcher 1857), year1857

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

  • To Australia [poem by Ruby Jean Stephenson, 18 November 1943]
  • [General news items] [4 April 1912]
  • [Australia has had more than its share of shipping disasters of late] [4 April 1912]
  • [Probably Professor Marshall Hall was right] [4 April 1912]
  • Gold-seekers of the Fifties [1 July 1899]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
  • The drover’s wife [by Henry Lawson]

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

  • IAC on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Stephen on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • IAC on The late Louisa Lawson [by George Black, 2 October 1920]
  • Percy Delouche on Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
  • Phil on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in