Uke, thank you. 'Slasher' it is then. I'll have to get my ears cleared out. I will post a corrected version below in case Joe should ever want to harvest it for the DT.

Many thanks to all for your assistance. It is much appreciated.

THE DYING BUSHMAN

I've knocked around the logging camps since early boyhood days
I've seen the famous axemen come and go
Now me chopping days are over, I shall swing that axe no more
On the hillside where the native timbers grow

Chorus
For me slasher is all rusty, and my axe handle's broke
I've laid them both behind the whare door
For the rata and the rimu have got so goddamn tough
That I really cannot cut them any more

The tramways in the valley I shall never tread again
No more I'll hear the hauler's whistle blow
Well, oft times I look back as I travel down the track
Please don't take me from the only home I know

Chorus

I'm a poor old worn-out bushman and my chopping days are done
Soon this world shall know I'll be no more
Down the valley of the shadow I'll soon be on the track
Where oft times I've seen bushmen go before

Chorus

And when I sleep that last long sleep, I pray that it may be
Where the tawa and the matai and the pine
And the hinau and the ngaio and the koromiko tree
Grow forever by that lonely grave of mine

Chorus

Source: transcription from Phil Garland 'Under The Southern Cross' Kiwi Pacific Records CD SLC-239.

--Stewie.