The Station Cook

Words: Traditional
Tune: Traditional (Musselburgh Fair)



The song I'm going to sing to you will not detain you long
It's all about a station cook we had at old Pinyong
His pastry was so beautiful his cooking was so fine
It gave us all a stomach-ache right through the shearing-time

Oh you should see his plum-duffs his doughboys and his pies
I swear by Long Maloney they'd open a shearer's eyes
He'd say take your time, good fellows and he'd fix us with a glance
Saying I'll dish you up much better if you'll give me half a chance

Oh you should see his doughboys his dumplings and his pies
The thought of such luxuries would open a shearer's eyes
He gets up in the morning gives us plenty of stewed tea
And don't forget when shearing's done to sling the cook his fee

But oh dear! I feel so queer I don't know what to do
The thought of leaving Fowler's Bay just breaks my heart in two
But if ever I catch that slushy I'll make him rue the day
That he ruined my constitution while shearing at Fowler's Bay.



Lyrics from Mark Gregory's Australian Folk Songs site.

Ron Edwards has the following note:

The Station Cook comes from the collection of Dr Percy Jones. According to English folklorist A.L. Lloyd it is sung to the Scottish melody "Musselburgh Fair".

The same tune is used for Lachlan Tigers.


The illustration to this post is a photograph entitled, A Station Cook, by Arthur Groom, held in his collection by the National Library of Australia.