Gorrianawa
I've been many years a shearer, I fancied I could shear;
I've shorn for Rouse, at Guntawang, and always missed the spear.
I've shorn for Nicholas Bayley, and I declare to you
That of his pure merinos I could always get a few.
But, oh! my! I never saw before,
The way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa.
I've been shearing on the Bogan, as far as Dandaloo.
For good old Reid, of Tabratong, I've often cut a few.
I've shorn at Terramungamine, and all the Talbragar,
I ran McDermott for the cobbler, when we shore at Buckingbar.
But, oh! my! I never saw before,
The way we had to knuckle down, at Goorianawa.
I've shorn for John McMaster, down on Rockgedgiel Creek.
I could always dish him up with thirty score a week.
Haddon Rig and Quambone-even at Wingadee,
I could close my shears, at six o'clock for a quiet century;
But, oh! my! I never saw before,
The way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa.
I've been shearing on the Goulburn side, I've shown at Douglas Park
Where, all the day 'twas "Wool away!" and Toby did his work,
I've shorn for General Stewart, whose tomb is on the Mount,
And the sprees I've had with Scrammy Jack are more than I can count.
But, oh! my! I never saw before,
The way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa.
But now I'm broken-mouthed, my shearing's at an end;
And, although they call me 'Whalebone,'' I was never known to bend.
I've shorn in every woolshed, from the Barwon to the Bree,
I got speared, at Goorianawa before I raddled three.
But, oh! my! I never saw before,
The way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa.
Notes
Published in the regional NSW newspaper the Windsor and Richmond Gazette Friday 13 April 1928 p. 2.
The song was publishes under the title
OLD TIME SHEARER'S SONG GORRIANAWA (perhaps the compositor made a typo with the title!) with the note at the end AUTHOR UNKNOWN, see also the Duke Tritton version in Folk Songs of Australia, Meredith and Anderson, 1967, pp. 268-269.