The Sleeper Cutters (1934)
They set their camp where the cedars grow,
And they work with whistle and song,
Though the way was rough and the gain was small
,
And the days were hot and long.
But their hearts were glad as the time went by
,
And they counted with honest pride
Over the taly of smooth-cut planks
As they stacked them side by side.
So here's to the song of the cross cut saw,
As it rings on the timbered tracks,
And the gum trees tall in their pride must fall
To the blade of a shining axe.
The cross-cut' hums on the splintered wood,
And the sap flows full and free,
In a smother of leaves the axe lays death
To a giant bloodwood tree.
Then a .mountain-ash and a gum tree fall
With a clutter of chips and dust
There's a vacant place, and an open space
Where a pride of the bush land stood.
Notes
From the Victorian Newspaper the Gippsland Times Monday 5 November 1934 p. 4.
See also