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Girls of the Shamrock Shore

It being in the spring when the small birds sing
And the lambs do sport and play
I entered as a passenger
To New South Wales sailed o'er
And I'll bid farewell to all that dwell
And the girls of the Shamrock Shore

The ship that we set sail upon
The Speedwell was her name
For full five months and longer
We sailed the foaming main
Neither land nor harbour could we see
Or the girls of the Shamrock Shore

On the fourteenth of September
We then did reach the land
We went on shore at Sydney Cove
All chained hand to hand
My sentence is for fourteen years
Farewell to the Shamrock Shore

Notes

Collected from Sally Sloane by John Meredith. She told Meredith that she learned it from her grandmother. See 'Botany Bay 2' in this collection for a related tune.

Searchable archives of Irish transports are now available on at The National Archives of Ireland

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/search01.html

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australian traditional songs . . . a selection by mark gregory