G'day Gary T,

I hope the song is of interest. "Duke" Tritton was an intersting character because he was solidly a traditional folk singer - Born 1887, went out working around the outback as a shearer in 1905, worked on farms, built fences, poisoned and dug out rabbits, got the gold bug and spent a lot of time digging without ever finding a good vein, worked as a powder monkey on railway construction during the depression, boxed in a travelling fight show, busked in country towns as a singer.

He was a great source of traditional songs when collectors started working with tape recorders in the 1950s ... and some of the best didn't bother to record his own songs. Janet did ... and got great songs like Shearing in a Bar, Duke's song about the boasting in a pub, when the real work is far enough away not to intrude on a good story. Duke wrote this in his first shearing season, 1905.

Shearing in a Bar, is there (as Shearing In The Bar, from a Martyn Wyndham-Read record. I couldn't see Shores of Botany Bay, but that was the subject of a thread last year - probably with a different title (trad., collected from 'Duke', with an extra verse he wrote to round the song out). I should check to see if I can add a few.

Regards,

Bob Bolton