From the Port Phillip Gazette.
If you ever were at Yass you may have heard a song,
That shewed new chums, in settling, were generally wrong ;
And Squatting they should go !
On, on they rolled with sheep and cattle, along their dreary way,
And staggering on amused themselves with pouring forth their lay,
Oh! Squatting we will go !
The song was made by Tom Besnard, and well he sang it too ;
But things are strangely altered now, as I will prove to you.
And Squatting we won't go !
They raised the price of Crown Land a good while ago,
And Settlers left off buying them, as probably you know.
And Squatting they would go !
To check them then in squatting, the Government set to work,
And began to use the Squatters worse than Jew or Turk.
Yet Squatting they would go !
And now they're laying on a fresh tax every day ;
We are all beginning to see that Squatting will not pay.
And Squatting we won't go !
They have laid a tax on sheep, and calculate the grass they eat ;
And if they could, no doubt they would too, lower the price of meat.
So Squatting we won't go !
You may talk of Saxon ewes and Merino rams so pure,
But a Government situation now, is a better thing I'm sure.
So Squatting we won't go !
For if a squatter come to town, to enjoy a glorious revel,
He's sure to find, on his return, his stock all going to tlie devil.
So Squatting we won't go !
Then there's the cursed blacks too, if they choose to come and bang you,
And you should knock them down, a Protector 'll try to hang you.
So Squatting we won't go !
Notes
From the Sydney Newspaper The Commercial Journal and Advertiser 17 Jul 1839 p. 3.
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