Works

To my fellow sinners all, who, in hope and doubt,
Through the Commonwealth to-night watch the Old Year out,
New Year's Resolutions are jerry-built I know,
But I want to say to you, 'Give yourselves a show'.
...

No one lives in Golden Gully, for its golden days are o'er,
And its clay shall never sully blucher-boots of diggers more,
For the diggers long have vanished, nought but broken shafts remain,...

I hate the pen, the foolscap fair,
The poet's corner, and the page,
For Grief and Death are written there,
In every land and every age.
The poets sing and play their parts,...

The Russian march is soft and slow,
Through dust and heat, or slush and snow,
When the Russian skies hang grey and low
To the frontiers far where the Russians go;...

He has notions of Australia from the tales that he's been told,
Land of leggings and revolvers, land of savages and gold;
So he begs old shirts, and someone patches up his worn-out duds....

They lifted her out of a story
Too sordid and selfish by far,
They left me the innocent glory
Of love that was pure as a star;
They left me all guiltless of 'evil'...

Heed not the cock-sure tourist,
Seeing with English eyes;
Stroked at the banquet table
Still, with the old stock lies,
Pet of a social circle,
Guest in a garden fair,...

Tell a simple little story of a settler in the West,
Where the soldier birds and farmers, and selectors never rest
While the sun shines, and they often work in rainy weather, too:...

INTRODUCTION

The theme is ancient as the hills,
With all their prehistoric glory;
But yet of Corney and his friend,
We've often longed to tell the story;
And should we jar the reader's ear,...

There's many a schoolboy's bat and ball that are gathering dust at home,
For he hears a voice in the future call, and he trains for the war to come;...

Old Time is tramping close to-day, you hear his bluchers fall,
A mighty change is on the way, an' God protect us all;
Some dust'll fly from beery coats, at least it's been declared....

He's gone to England for a wife
Among the ladies there;
And yet I know a lass he deemed
The rarest of the rare.
He's gone to England for a wife;
And rich and proud is he....

The future was dark and the past was dead
As they gazed on the sea once more,
But a nation was born when the immigrants said
"Good-bye!" as they stepped ashore!
In their loneliness they were parted thus...

By the bodies and minds and souls that rot in a common sty
In the city's offal-holes, where the dregs of its horrors lie;
By the prayers that bubble out, but never ascend to God,...

She's not like an empress,
And crowned with raven hair,
She is not 'pert an' bonny,'
Nor 'winsome, wee, an' fair.'
But when a man's in trouble,
And darkest shadows fall,
She's just a little woman...

I'll tell you what you wanderers, who drift from town to town;
Don't look into a good girl's eyes, until you've settled down.
It's hard to go away alone and leave old chums behind,...

When you've managed with the tailor for a rig-out of a sort
And you find the coat or trousers are an inch or so too short,
Do not fret and swear and worry, make the tailor see you through,...

Part of "The Bush Controversy".


It was pleasant up the country, Mr. Banjo, where you went,
For you sought the greener patches and you travelled like a gent.,...

In Possum Land the nights are fair,
the streams are fresh and clear;
no dust is in the moonlit air;
no traffic jars the ear.

With Possums gambolling overhead,
'neath western stars so grand,...

Oh! this is a joyful dirge, my friends, and this is a hymn of praise;
And this is a clamour of Victory, and a p'an of Ancient Days.
It isn't a Yelp of the Battlefield; nor a Howl of the Bounding Wave,...