The Ballad of Cockatoo Dock
Of all the docks upon the blue There was no dockyard, old or new, To touch the dock at Cockatoo. Of all the ministerial clan There was no nicer, worthier man Than Admiral O’Sullivan.
Been There Before
There came a stranger to Walgett town, To Walgett town when the sun was low, And he carried a thirst that was worth a crown, Yet how to quench it he did not know;
The Man Who Was Away
The widow sought the lawyer’s room with children three in tow, She told the lawyer man her tale in tones of deepest woe. She said, “My husband took to drink for pains in his
A Motor Courtship
Into her presence he gaily pranced, A very fat spark, and a bit advanced. With a Samson tread on the earth he trod, He was stayed and gaitered, and fifty odd. And she was
The Premier and the Socialist
The Premier and the Socialist Were walking through the State: They wept to see the Savings Bank Such funds accumulate. “If these were only cleared away,” They said, “it would be great.” “If three
Gone Down
To the voters of Glen Innes ’twas O’Sullivan that went, To secure the country vote for Mister Hay. So he told ’em what he’d borrowed, and he told ’em what he’d spent, Though extravagance
Policeman G
To Policeman G. the Inspector said: “When you pass the ‘shops’ you must turn your head; If you took a wager, that would be a sin; So you’ll earn no stripes if you run
A Disqualified Jockey's Story
You see, the thing was this way there was me, That rode Panopply, the Splendor mare, And Ikey Chambers on the Iron Dook, And Smith, the half-caste rider on Regret, And that long bloke
With the Cattle
The drought is down on field and flock, The river-bed is dry; And we must shift the starving stock Before the cattle die. We muster up with weary hearts At breaking of the day,
When Dacey rode the Mule
‘TWAS to a small, up-country town, When we were boys at school, There came a circus with a clown, Likewise a bucking mule. The clown announced a scheme they had Spectators for to bring
Conroy's Gap
This was the way of it, don’t you know Ryan was “wanted” for stealing sheep, And never a trooper, high or low, Could find him catch a weasel asleep! Till Trooper Scott, from the
The Old Tin Hat
In the good old days when the Army’s ways were simple and unrefined, With a stock to keep their chins in front, and a pigtail down behind, When the only light in the barracks
Hard Luck
I left the course, and by my side There walked a ruined tout A hungry creature, evil-eyed, Who poured this story out. “You see,” he said, “there came a swell To Kensington today, And,
Frogs in chorus
The chorus frogs in the big lagoon Would sing their songs to the silvery moon. Tenor singers were out of place, For every frog was a double bass. But never a human chorus yet
Those Names
The shearers sat in the firelight, hearty and hale and strong, After the hard day’s shearing, passing the joke along: The “ringer” that shore a hundred, as they never were shorn before, And the