Archive for the ‘Australian Culture’ Category

One of a couple of old Australian songs about the “road to Gundagai”. Gundagai is a town in New South Wales.  Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become the representation or an icon of the typical Australian country town. It sits along the Murrumbidgee River.

ON THE ROAD TO GUNDAGAI

Anonymous

Oh, we started down from Roto when the sheds had all cut out,
We’d whips and whips of Rhino as we meant to push about,
So we humped our blues serenely and made for Syndey town,
With a three-spot cheque between us, as wanted knocking down.

Chorus:
But we camped at Lazy Harry’s, on the road to Gundagai.
The road to Gundagai!  Not five miles from Gundagai!
Yes, we camped at Lazy Harry’s, on the road to Gundagai.

Well, we struck the Murrumbidgee near the Yanco in a week,
And passed through old Narrandera and crossed the Burnett Creek.
And we never stopped at Wagga, for we’d Sydney in our eye,
But we camped at Lazy Harry’s, on the road to Gundagai.

Oh, I’ve seen a lot of girls, my boys, and drunk a lot of beer,
And I’ve met with some of both, chaps, as has left me mighty queer,
But for beer to knock you sideways, and for girls to make you sigh,
You must camp at Lazy Harry’s, on the road to Gundagai.

Well we chucked our blooming swags off, and we walked into the bar,
And we called for rum-an’-raspb’ry and a shilling each cigar.
Bur the girl that served the pizen, she winked at Bill and I –
And we camped at Lazy Harry’s, not five miles from Gundagai.

In a week the spree was over and the cheque was all knocked down,
So we shouldered our Matildas, and we turned our back on town,
And the girls they stood a nobbler as we sadly said good-bye,
And we tramped from Lazy Harry’s, not five miles from Gundagai.

Last chorus:
And we tramped from Lazy Harry’s, nor five miles from Gundagai.

© AYArktos - The famous 'Dog on the Tucker Box' 5 miles from Gundagai.

‘I Still Call Australia Home’ by Peter Allen is a great Australian song in recent years that really strikes a chord in most Australians, particularly when they’re travelling! On a Qantas flight back in from overseas it was what they played as the plane taxied to the terminal and is a bit of a choker when you’ve been feeling homesick. It’s often used in different commercials for Qantas, Australia’s first airline (also known as “The Flying Kangaroo”).

I Still Call Australia Home

by Peter Allen

I’ve been to cities that never close down
From New York to Rio and old London town
But no matter how far
Or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home.

I’m always travelin’
And I love bein’ free
So I keep leavin’ the sun and the sea
But my heart lies waiting over the foam
I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters spinning ’round the world
Away from their families and friends
Ah, but as the world gets older and colder
It’s good to know where your journey ends.

And someday we’ll all be together once more
When all the ships come back to the shore
Then I realize something I’ve always known
I still call Australia home.

No matter how far
Or how wide I roam
I still call Australia home.

The Australian Aboriginal flag was designed in 1971 and was originally designed as a protest flag for the land rights movement of Indigenous Australians.

It’s not been without controversy though, in the 1994 Commonwealth Games, athlete Cathy Freeman carried the Aboriginal flag along with the Australian flag during her victory lap after the 200m sprint and 400m sprint. In doing so, she helped bring changes to its use and it has since become widely recognisable.

It was officially proclaimed as a flag of Australia in 1995 by the Australian Government.

It’s a great flag though and we have Aboriginal flag wallhangings and t-shirts for sale through our website at Australian Native T-Shirts. Click to view the Aboriginal Flag products here.

THE WILD COLONIAL BOY

Anonymous

‘Tis of a wild Colonial Boy, Jack Doolan was his name,
Of poor but honest parents he was born in Castlemaine.
He was his father’s only hope, his mother’s only joy,
And dearly did his parents love the wild Colonial boy.

Chorus:

Come, all my hearties, we’ll roam the mountains high,
Together we will plunder, together we will die.
We’ll wander over valleys, and gallop over plains,
And we’ll scorn to live in slavery, bound down with iron chains.

He was scarcely sixteen years of age when he left his father’s home,
And through Australia’s sunny clime a bushranger did roam.
He robbed those wealthy squatters, their stock he did destroy,
And a terror to Australia was the wild Colonial boy.

In sixty-one this daring youth commenced his wild career,
With a heart that knew no danger, no foeman did he fear.
He stuck up the Beechworth mail-coach, and robbed Judge MacEvoy,
Who trembled, and gave up his gold to the wild Colonial boy.

He bade the judge “Good morning” and told him to beware,
That he’d never rob a hearty chap that acted on the square,
And never to rob a mother of her son and only joy,
Or else you may turn outlaw, like the wild Colonial boy.

One day as he was riding the mountain-side along,
A-listening to the little birds, their pleasant laughing song,
Three mounted troopers rode along – Kelly, Davis and FitzRoy –
They thought that they would capture him, the wild Colonial boy.

“Surrender now, Jack Doolan, you see there’s three to one.
Surrender now, Jack Doolan, you daring highwayman.”
He drew a pistol from his belt, and shook the little toy.
“I’ll fight, but not surrender,” said the wild Colonial boy.

He fired at Trooper Kelly and brought him to the ground,
And in return from Davis received a mortal wound.
All shattered through the jaws he lay still firing at FitzRoy,
And that’s’ the way they captured him – the wild Colonial boy.