Posts Tagged ‘culture’

The sun was hot already – it was only 8 o’clock
The cocky took off in his Ute, to go and check his stock.
He drove around the paddocks checking wethers, ewes and lambs,
The float valves in the water troughs, the windmills on the dams.
 
He stopped and turned a windmill on to fill a water tank
And saw a ewe down in the dam, a few yards from the bank.
“Typical bloody sheep,” he thought, “they’ve got no common sense,
“They won’t go through a gateway but they’ll jump a bloody fence.”
 
The ewe was stuck down in the mud, he knew without a doubt
She’d stay there ’til she carked it if he didn’t get her out.
But when he reached the water’s edge, the startled ewe broke free
And in her haste to get away, began a swimming spree.

He reckoned once her fleece was wet, the weight would drag her down
If he didn’t rescue her, the stupid sod would drown.
Her style was unimpressive, her survival chances slim
He saw no other option, he would have to take a swim.

He peeled his shirt and singlet off, his trousers, boots and socks
And as he couldn’t stand wet clothes, he also shed his jocks.
He jumped into the water and away that cocky swam
He caught up with her, somewhere near the middle of the dam

The ewe was quite evasive, she kept giving him the slip
He tried to grab her sodden fleece but couldn’t get a grip.
At last he got her to the bank and stopped to catch his breath
She showed him little gratitude for saving her from death.

She took off like a Bondi tram around the other side
He swore next time he caught that ewe he’d hang her bloody hide.
Then round and round the dam they ran, although he felt quite puffed
He still thought he could run her down, she must be nearly stuffed.

The local stock rep came along, to pay a call that day.
He knew this bloke was on his own, his wife had gone away
He didn’t really think he’d get fresh scones for morning tea
But nor was he prepared for what he was about to see.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief at what came into view
For running down the catchment came this frantic-looking ewe.
And on her heels in hot pursuit and wearing not a stitch
The farmer yelling wildly “Come back here, you lousy bitch!”

The stock rep didn’t hang around, he took off in his car
The cocky’s reputation has been damaged near and far
So bear in mind the Work Safe rule when next you check your flocks
Spot the hazard, assess the risk, and always wear your jocks!

Received via email – Author unknown.

Bushranger Ned Kelly Flames T-Shirt

Announcing our great new Ned Kelly T-Shirt – it’s called Ned Kelly Flames and features our most famous Australian outlaw with pistols in hand. A commemorative design, it displays his official birth and death dates below the print. It’s currently available in adult sizes only – 14/small to 22/XXL.

We carry a wide range of Ned Kelly gifts on Australian Native T-Shirts – to view the full range, click here.

Here we have a few fun and interesting facts from Australia – I’ll add more of these every now and then, sure makes for an interesting read!

• Australia is the worlds biggest island and also the smallest continent (bizarre right?!).
• The largest organic construction on earth is in Australia and is known as the Great Barrier Reef (been there, must visit!).
• Tasmania is know to have the cleanest air in the world (who knew?).
• In 1954 Bob Hawke (former Prime Minister) made it into the Guinness Book of Records – why? He drank 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds (he was a bit of a larrikin wasn’t he?).
• There are 1500 hundred species of Australian spiders (eek!).
• There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia, and only 21.8 million people (as of june 2009).
• Australia has the biggest number of wild one humped camels in the world (i don’t really know what to say about that).
• The city of Melbourne in Australia has the largest Greek population in the world outside of Athens Greece (not surprising).

No wonder they call Australia the land of wonders – this is just a drop in the ocean of fun facts available for our great land.

The second Monday in June in most of Australia is a public holiday known as the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend. The quirky thing is, the actual Queen’s birthday isn’t in June at all, it’s April 21st! The origins of the public holiday date all the way back to 1788 when Australia was first settled and Governer Arthur Phillip gave the convicts three days off to celebrate the birthday of King George III. We continued to celebrate the reigning King or Queens birthday until 1936 when the states decided to have an annual holiday closest to the late King’s birthday (King George V) on June 3rd.

Queen Elizabeth II

Oddly enough, although Australia has a public holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Birthday, the UK does not. I guess us Aussies are always looking for an excuse to have a day off work and celebrate!

Growing up, the Queen’s birthday long weekend was always our firecracker / fireworks night before the safety laws came in requiring a license to handle them. All I can remember is being taken to one of our relatives houses while we had a bonfire or fireworks display in the backyard. Back then, every second or third backyard seemed to have their own fireworks being set off – it certainly was a colourful night around the neighbourhood!

Now the Queen’s birthday holiday means a weekend trip away, maybe a picnic or BBQ on Monday with the family or in my case, a restful day off work today, June 8th 2009.