Bullockies' Ball
The teams were camped along the gully, soon the news flew round about
Plans were worked out by Pat Skulley, to give the boys a grand blowout
We had an awning of tarpaulin, kegs and casks came quickly rolling
Then the boys and girls came strolling, to have a burst at the Bullockies' Ball.
Chorus
Oh, my hearty, that was a party
Help yourself, free, gratis all
Lots of prog and buckets of grog
To swig away at the Bullockies' Ball
First came Flash Joe, but Jimmy was flasher Hopping Billy the one-eyed boss
Brisbane Sal and the Derwent Slasher Billy the Bull and Paddy the Hoss
Nanny the Rat, the real macassar Brisbane Bess and Mother McCall
All came rolling up together, to have a burst at the Bullockies' Ball
Soon pint pots began to rattle, the cry was "Pass the rum this way!"
The boys began to blow their cattle, and the ladies, of course, must have their say
Sal said she'd take cheek from no man, down to a dish of hash did stoop
She got a smack in the eye with a doughboy, put her sitting in a bucket of soup.
Oh then, boys, there was the ructions, man the tucker and let fly
Brisbane Bess with a hunk of damper caught Flash Joe right in the eye
Nanny the Rat, the real macassar, with a frying pan a dozen slew
He got a clip with a leg of mutton, took a dive in an Irish stew
There was a wallowman Doughy Rolly Foley, said he's put them to the rout
Seized a junk of roly-poly, but a poultice of pigweed stopped his mouth
Now, this raised his old woman's dander, into an awful tanter flew
"Fair play" cried she to a bleedin' overlander, "You pumpkin-peeling,toe rag snob!
Last Chorus
Oh, my hearty, that was a party
Help yourself, free, gratis all
Blackened eyes and broken noses
That wound up the Bullockies' Ball
Notes
This parody of 'Finnegans Wake' was sung to John Meredith by Margaret Parker and her sister Mrs Sprike, who had learned the song from their father, John Brennan. Brennan heard the song while droving in the Gulf Country of northern Queensland. Prog is food, waddurang means old woman, and pigweed was boiled up or eaten raw as a green vegetable to prevent 'Barcoo rot' or scurvy.