Jacky Howe: The Warwick Gun

Ted Egan



Now you've heard of all the other shearers
The Ryebucks and the rest
Lachlan Tigers and old Flash Jack
But we all know who was best
In the bar at Lazy Harry's, mates
They shore sheep big as whales
And the bar was two foot deep in dags
As the crutchers told their tales.

But when it comes to hist'ry, mates,
When all is said and done
There's really just ONE champion
Australia's Number One
You ask any shearer
Who was best under the sun?
And he'll say: "The bloke from Queensland,
Jacky Howe, the Warwick Gun."

CHORUS:
Yes, Jacky Howe from Warwick he's the Gun
Jacky Howe from Warwick, Australia's number one
His long blow is a certain pleaser,
CLIP - from the breezer to the sneezer
Jacky Howe from Warwick he's the Gun

Just you watch the Warwick Gun, mate
As he dives into the pen
Moves in fast, grabs his sheep
It's down on the boards and then
He whips off all the belly wool
His shears are moving quick
But he's got the knockers on his blades
And you can barely hear them click


From the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online:
HOWE, JOHN ROBERT (1861?-1920), shearer and publican, was born probably on 26 July 1861 at Killarney near Warwick, Queensland, son of John Howe, circus acrobat turned stockman, and his wife Louisa, née Stokes, who had come to Queensland as a companion to the wife of Patrick Leslie. Howe probably began shearing in the late 1870s and after a season in New Zealand settled at Blackall. At the Roman Catholic church there on 24 April 1890 he married Margaret Alexandra Victoria Short.....
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