Dungenyul Song

Unknown



I met an old man called Rovrie
I was talking to him the other day
When I asked what was his opinion
To me these words he did say

"Now I'm just a common old swaggie
I wonder, like some people say,
But I like me grog and my dungenyul--
I guess I was brought up that way.

"Now beer is all froth and all bubble,
And whisky will make a man moan
And plonk's just another word for trouble
But the dungenyul is out on its own."


From Singabout, Volume 5, Number 2, October 1964, with the following note:

Dungenyul = methylated spirits

Collected by Barbara Gibbons from Chris Woodland who learnt it from Aboriginal friends in Bourke, N.S.W.


Though poisonous, methylated spirits is cheaper than drinking alcohol and so its misuse is not unknown.