G'day,
Here are the words, written in 1901 while Lawson & his family were in England.

THE BUSH GIRL
(Henry Lawson)

So you rode from the range where your brothers select
Through the ghostly grey bush in the dawn -
You rode slowly at first, lest her heart should suspect
That you were so glad to be gone;
You had scarcely the courage to glance back at her
By the homestead receding from view
And you breathed with relief as you rounded the spur
For the world was a wide world to you.

Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain
Fond heart that is ever more true
Firm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain -
She'll wait by the sliprails for you.

Ah! the world is a new and a wide one to you
But the world to your sweetheart is shut
For a change never comes to the lonely bush homes
Of the stockyard, the scrub and the hut;
And the only relief from its dullness she feels
When the ridges grow softened and dim
And away in the dusk to the slip-rails she steals
To dream of past hours 'with him'.

Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain
Fond heart that is ever more true
Firm faith that grows firmer for watching in vain -
She'll wait by the sliprails for you.

Do you think, where, in place of bare fences, dry creeks,
Clear streams and green hedges are seen -
Where the girls have the lily and rose in their cheeks
And the grass in mid-summer is green -
Do you think, now and then, now or then, in the whirl
Of the town life, while London is new
Of the hut in the bush and the freckled-faced girl
Who waits by the sliprails for you?

Grey eyes that grow sadder than sunset or rain
Bruised heart that is ever more true
Fond faith that is firmer for trusting in vain -
She waits by the sliprails for you.

Now if I get my copy of Chris Kempster's book (rightly praised above by Bob) back from F33 we'll get a tune (if Bob doesn't save me the effort). There are about five different tunes in this book, one by American Priscilla Herdman which is probably the one you know.

BTW Bob, there was a rumour here that Priscilla Herdman is Canadian but I believe that's incorrect.

Cheers,
Alan