Bullockie's Song
There's an old bullock driver lives in Bundaberg up west
His
name is Jim and he's one of the best
He'd yoke up his team, go where any teamster
could go
He'd snig out his logs and load up his load
He'd hook the
bullocks to the wagon you see
Crack his whip, 'Get up' says he
All the
bullocks would lean into the yokes and the bows
And the wagon would start
moving very slow
He would drive his team along the road
Up hills
and down hills they would go
Across sandy flats with their heads bending low
Doing their best to pull a big load
Then to the camp he would drive his
team
Unyoke his bullocks, turn them out to the feed
Poke up the fire to
cook him some tea
Salt junk and damper, oh that was his meal
He would
sit by the fire and smoke his pipe
Then into his bunk to retire for the night
Up in the morning at the dawn of the day
Saddle his horse and jog on his way
His old black dog Nipper trotting behind
Off they would go, the bullocks
to find
Muster the team, drive them back to the camp
Yoke up his bullocks
and away he would tramp
Now Jimmy is old and wrinkled and gray
He
knows that his time must soon pass away
He knows he must go where his cobbers
have gone
Where there's no bullock teams to drive along
Notes
In his Big Book of Australian Folk Song Ron Edwards writes "A Bullockie's Song was collected by Bob Michell and Stan Arthur in 1966 at Bundaberg, Qld, from the singing of Albert Newitt (born c. 1879). According to the conversation on the tape this is one of the informant's own compositions. He had worked as a bullock driver for many years in the Bundaberg area, and the song describes what must have been a typical day in his life".