Australian Navvies On The Line (1912)
WE'VE dug for western gold at far Coolgardie ;
We 've helped to dig the dam at Burren Juck ;
When men who open railway schemes were tardy
We've even fenced the squatters' runs out-back.
We've handled sheaves of wheat in times of harvest ;
We've dug their drains at distant Narromine ;
Where men of might and muscle work we are best,
For we're Australian navvies, " on the line."
Dig, dig, lift and throw !
Into the dray we make it go ;
Boulders and sand and roots and stones,
We swing with the knack that the navvy owns ;
We loaf in wet and work in fine,
Australian navvies " on the line."
We've sewed the waists of ladies' tailored dresses
We've weighed up tea and sugar in our time ;
We've shaved the city clerks and cut their tresses ;
We 've served in butchers' shops, joints poor and prime.
We've kept a shop for shoes, down in the city,
For gilded youths and maids with insteps fine.
But now we're tired of men and maidens pretty,
So we're Australian navvies " on the line,"
Pick, bar, hammer and drill !
Tearing the " dirt" from a sandstone hill.
Stiffen your arms and bend your back ;
Make for the " johnnies" a railway track,
To farm and run, to mill and mine--
Australian navvies " on the line."
A. E. YARRA.
Notes
From the Wagga NSW newspaper the Worker Thursday 5 December 1912, p. 10 S.