The Union Boy
When I first arrived in Quirindi those girls they jumped for
joy
Saying one unto the other here comes a union boy
We'll treat
him to a bottle and likewise to a dram
Our hearts we'll freely give too to
all staunch union men
I had not been long in Quirindi not one week two
or three
When an handsome pretty fair maid she fell in love with me
She introduced me to her mother as a loyal union man
Oh mother dearest mother
now he's gently joined the gang
Oh daughter dearest daughter oh this
can never be
For four years ago oh he scabbed at Forquadee
Oh mother
dearest mother now the truth to you I'll tell
He's since then joined the union
and the country knows it well
Now Fred you've joined the union so stick
to it like glue
For the scabs that were upon your back they're now but only
few
And if you ever go blacklegging or scabbing it likewise
It's
with my long long fingernails I'll scratch out both your eyes
I'll put
you to every cruelty I'll stretch you in a vice
I'll cut you up in a hay machine
and sell you for Chinese rice
Come all you young men oh wherever you
may be
Oh it's hoist oh the flag oh the flag of unity
Then scabbing
in this country will soon be at an end
And I pray that one and all of you
will be staunch union men
Notes
When John Meredith first visited Gulgong NSW he recorded this song from Bill Coughlin, then in his seventies. Coughlin had learned the song during the 1902 shearers' strike when he was 16. John Lahey prints another version in his Great Australian Folk Songs .