G'day all,

The Bold Jack Donahoe story started out as the "true" story of a bushranger - a convict escaped and at large in the bush - the wild forests. Jack was an accomplished escapologist but eventually cornered and shot in 1830.

The later versions took on board other stories - Jack was never mounted, he went foot in the heavily forested areas around Sydney Town .. that are now outer suburbs of Sydney. A lot of later stories, particularly of the goldrush era (~ 1855 - 1880) were grafted on and the song characterised the whole bushranging ethos and the public, fairly Irish, discontent with the colonial rulers.

Certainly the core is "true", but the song has been a lot of places since then. The (mostly unofficial) bans on the song and its tune are the reason so many different tunes appeared.

I used to believe that the original tune was that of The Wearing of the Green, but this seems unlikely now I know that the Irish did not pinch this Scottish tune until 1848, so an earlier genuine Irish tune is most likely the original - and impossible to trace at this remove.

Regards,

Bob Bolton