The Great Northern Line
My love he is a teamster a handsome man is he
Red shirt, white moleskin trousers and a hat of cabbage tree
He drives a team of bullocks and whether it's wet or fine
You will hear his whip a cracking on the Great Northern Line
Chorus
Watch him pipe him twig him how he goes
With his little team of bullocks he cuts no dirty shows
He's one of the flash young carriers that on the road do shine
With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line
And when he swings the greenhide whip he raises skin and hair
His bullocks all have shrivelled horns for Lordy he can swear
But I will always love him this splendid man of mine
With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line
When he bogged at Mundowie and the bullocks took the yoke
They strained with bellies on the ground until the bar-chain broke
He fixed it up with fencing wire and brought wool from Bundamine
With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line
When he comes into Tamworth you will hear the ladies sigh
And parents guard their daughters for he has a roving eye
But he signals with his bullock-whip as he comes through the pine
With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line
Notes
Collected by John Meredith from Duke Tritton. The tune is also used for 'The Station Cook' and 'Lachlan Tigers'. Sally Sloane uses the tune for 'The Knickerbocker Line. Tritton told Meredith that he learned the song from Jack Large of Mudgee, NSW.