THE OLD KEG OF RUM
(Anon)

My name is old Jack Palmer, and I once dug for gold
And the song I'm going to sing you recalls the days of old
When I'd plenty mates around me, and the talk would fairly hum
As we all sat together round the old keg of rum

Chorus
The old keg of rum, the old keg of rum
As we all sat together round the old keg of rum

There was Bluey Watt, the breaker, and old Tom Hynes
And little Doyle, the ringer, who now in glory shines
And many more hard-doers, all gone to Kingdom Come
We were all associated round the old keg of rum

When the shearing time was over at the sheds on the Bree
We'd raise a keg from somewhere, and we'd all have a spree
We'd sit and sing together till we got so blind and dumb
That we couldn't find the bung-hole of the old keg of rum

There was some would last the night out, and some would have a snooze
And some were full of fight, boys, but all were full of booze
Till often in a scrimmage I have corked it with my thumb
To keep the life from leakin' from the old keg of rum

And now my song is ended, I've got to travel on
Just an old buffer skiting of days dead and gone
You young folk who hear me will perhaps in years to come
Remember old Jack Palmer and his old keg of rum

The above is close to the version that circulated during the folk boom. It was popular here in Darwin, particularly with a group that called themselves Bludger O'Toole. I took this from the Folk Lore Council compilation. It is also on the Mark Gregory and John Thompson sites. There is a much longer version in Paterson's 'Old Bush Songs' from which this perhaps derives.

Youtube clip

--Stewie.