Lachlan Tigers

Trad.






Well at each gate each shearer stood as the whistle loudly blew
With eyebrows fixed and lips set tight and the tigers all fed too
You can hear the clicking of the shears as through the wool they glide
And see the ringer already turned and on the whipping side

A lot of Lachlan tigers it's plain to see they are
And the ringer goes on driving as he loudly calls for tar
Tar here you dozy loafer and quick the tar boy flies
Broom here and sweep those locks away another loudly cries

The scene it is a lively one and ought to be admired
There's never been a better board since Jacky Howe expired
Along the board the contractor walks his face all in a frown
And passing by the ringer he says my lad keep down

I mean to have those bellies off and topknots too likewise
My eye is quick so none of your tricks or from me you will fly
My curse on that contractor by flaming day and night
To shear a decent tally here in vain I've often tried

I have a pair of Ward and Payne's that are both bright and new
I'll rig them up and let you see what I can really do
For I've shore on the Bogan where they shear them by the score
But such a terror as this to clip I've never shore before

A lot of Lachlan tigers it's plain to see they are
And the ringer goes on driving as he loudly calls for tar
The scene it is a lively one and ought to be admired
There's never been a better board since Jacky Howe expired


From AL Lloyds liner notes ("Across the Western Plains", 1958):

A shearer's song from the Forbes district, that drives on at the pace of a ringer [master shearer] on the long blow in a busy shed. The Ward and Paine's mentioned in the song are a brand of shears. Jackie Howe, likewise mentioned, shore 321 wethers at Alice Downs, Central Queensland, in 1892. His record stood until 1947, when Daniel Cooper shore 325 at Glenara, Langkoop, Victoria. The tune, best known in Australia in association with the words of The Shearer's Cook, is a Scottish melody sometimes called Musselburgh Fair (It also exists in America, as The Cruise of the Bigler).

Goorianawa

Trad.





I’ve been many years a shearer and I fancied I could shear,
I’ve shore for Rouse of Guntawang and always missed the spear;
I’ve shore for Nicholas Bayly, and I declare to you
That on his pure Merinos, I could always struggle through.

Chorus
But it’s O my, I never saw before
the way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa.

I’ve been shearing down the Bogan as far as Dandaloo,
For good old Reid of Tabratong I’ve often cut a few.
Haddon Rig and Quambone, and even Wingadee;
I could close my shears at six o’clock with a quiet century.

I’ve shore for Bob McMaster down on the Rockedgiel Creek
And I could always dish him up with thirty score a week.
I’ve shore at Terramungamine, and on the Talbraga
And I ran McDermott for the cobbler when we shore at Buckingbar

I’ve been shearing on the Goulburn side, and down at Douglas Park,
Where every day ‘twas “Wool Away!” and toby did his work.
I’ve shore for General Stewart whose tomb is on The Mount;
And the sprees I’ve had with Scrammy Jack are more than I can count.

I’ve been shearing at Eugowra – I’ll never forget the name,
Where Gardiner robbed the escort, which from the Lachlan came.
I’ve shore for Bob Fitzgerald down at the Dabee Rocks,
McPhillamy of Charlton, and your Mister Henry Cox.

But that was in the good old days – you might have heard them say
How Skillycorn from Bathurst rode to Sydney in a day.
Now I'm broken mouthed and my shearing's at an end,
And although they call me Whalebone, I was never known to bend.

I've shorn in every woolshed from the Barwon to the sea,
But I got speared at Goorianawa before I’d barbered three.
For by the living Joseph I never saw before
Such sheep as made us knuckle down at Goorianawa.
But it’s spare me flamin’ days! I never saw before
the way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa.


Another great song collected by John Meredith from Duke Tritton.

One of the Has-Beens

To the tune of "Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington"



I'm one of the has beens a shearer I mean
I once was a ringer and I used to shear clean
I could make the wool roll off like the soil from the plough
But you may not believe me for I cant do it now

CHORUS: I'm as awkward as a new chum and I'm used to the frown
That the boss often shows me saying keep them blades down

I've shore with Pat Hogan, Bill Bright and Jack Gunn
Tommy Leighton Charlie Fergus and the great roaring Dunn
They brought from the Lachlan the best they could find
But not one among them could leave me behind

It's no use complaining I'll never say die
Though the days of fast shearing for me have gone by
I'll take the world easy shear slowly and clean
And I merely have told you just what I have been

Another one learnt from the Brisbane sessions of the early 80s. Published in Stewart and Keesing "Old Bush Songs". Notes and lyrics for this one from the venerable Mudcat.