Bound For Darling Harbour

Merv Lilley



Northern Queensland is my home,
Fire away, fire away
Northern Queensland is my home,
We're bound for Darling Harbour
Fire away, fire away
Fire away, you stokehole crew
We're bound for Darling Harbour

Queensland mills are crushing now,
Raw sugar stacked up to the bow

Down that deep and gloomy hole
A thousand tons of Bowen coal

Coal burning ships have seen their day
Oil is here and come to stay

Our hearts are sad, our hearts are sore
To see old firemen left ashore

Our ships will sail inland one day
To float the nations goods away

Now fare you well and fare you well
A last farewell to the stokehole hell.


Published as "A new song to an old shanty tune" in Singabout, Volume 1, Number 1, Summer 1956.


The illustration to this post is from Bonzle.com and shows cargo being loaded in Townsville in 1910.

Cane Killed Abel

Words: Merv Lilley
Tune: Chris Kempster



I was a cane cutter, but now I'm at sea,
Stool it, and top it, and load it my boys
Once cane killed Abel, but it won't kill me,
Stool it, and top it, and load it my boys

There was an old seaman who sang this refrain,
He stood to the bar and he filled up again.

I rose every morning about half past three,
To cook me my breakfast, my dinner and tea.

I worked very hard until I went to sea,
Once cane killed Abel, and it almost killed me.



Mark Gregory's Union Songs site has the refrains as "load it up high" and "Load it up wet and load it up dry". This version from Singabout, Volume 1, Number 1, Summer, 1956.

You can watch a short film, Cane-cutting and Mateship on the National Film and Sound Archive website.