HUMPING THE DRUM


I've humped my drum from Kingdom Come
To the back of the Milky Way
Boiled my quart on the Cape of York
And starved last Christmas Day.
I crossed the Murray and drank in Cloncurry
Where they charged a bob a nip
I worked on the Gulf where the cattle are duffed
And the squatters let them rip.

I've worked from morn in the fields of corn
Till the sun was out of sight
I've cause to know the great byno
And the Great Australian Bight
I danced with Kit when the lamps were lit
And with Doll when the dance broke up
I flung my hat on the Myall track
When Bowman won the Cup

I laughed aloud with the merry crowd
In the City of the Plains
I sweated too on Onderoo
While bogged in those big bore drains
I wheeled my bike from the Shearer's Strike
Not wanting a funeral shroud
And I made the weight for the Flying Stakes
But I dodged the lynching crowd.

I carried a gun through World War One
Then went on the track again
From Omeo to Bendigo
To Bourke and back again
I shed some tears in the hungry years
When jobs were short and few
Then I packed up a swag and an old tucker bag
There was nothing else to do.

Yes, I've humped my drum from Kingdom Come
To the back of the Milky Way.