Oxeborough Banks (Maids of Australia)
DESCRIPTION: The singer settles under a tree to watch the girls bathe. One catches his eye -- and he hers. She calls him to rescue her from sinking. (He then "entered the bush of Australia.") Nine months later she bears a son whose dad "nowhere could be found"AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (recording, Harry Cox)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction pregnancy abandonment river sex
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England(Lond)) Canada(Newf) US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 44-45, "Maids of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 269-270, "Maids of Australia" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 276-277, "The Gay Maid of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 183, "The Maid of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 27, pp. 163-166, "The Banks of My Native Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1872
RECORDINGS:
Everett Bennett, "The Gay Maid of Australia" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Harry Cox, "The Maid of Australia" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
Unidentified Mississippi singers "The Fair Maids of Australia" (AFS 15014 A3, 1930s)
NOTES: The Hawkesbury River reaches the sea north of Sydney at Broken Bay, NSW. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: FaE044
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The Ballad Index Copyright 2017 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
And here are the Digital Tradition lyrics:
THE MAID OF AUSTRALIA
One day as I walked by them Oxborough Banks
Where the maids of Australia they play their wild pranks,
Down by a green bush I sat down to read
While the birds they sang sweetly in the bushes and trees
In the forests of happy Australia,
In the forests of happy Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay.
And as I sat viewing this beautiful scene
All the birds they sang sweetly and the trees they were green,
A pretty fair damsel before me appeared
To the banks of the river she swiftly drew near
This daughter of happy Australia,
This daughter of happy Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay.
Well she stripped stark naked, before me she stood
Just as naked as Venus that rose from the flood,
She blushed with confusion and smiling said she,
"These are the clothing that nature gave me
On the day I was born in Australia."
On the day I was born in Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay
Well she plunged in the stream without fear or dread,
Her delicate limbs she extended and spread,
Her hair hung in ringlets her colour was black,
"Sir, you shall see how I float on me back
In the streams of me native Australia."
In the streams of me happy Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay.
But growing tired of swimming she drew to the brink,
"Oh assistance kind sir, I'm afraid I shall sink."
I flew to her aid and took hold of her hand,
Her feet they did slip she fell back on the sand,
And I entered the bush of Australia,
And I entered the bush of Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay.
We kissed and we cuddled in the highest of glee,
The fairest Australia me eyes they did see,
Long time on her bosom me head I did hide,
'Til the sun in the West it began to decline,
Then I left this fair maid of Australia,
Then I left this fair maid of Australia,
Just as the sun went down.
As sung by Martyn Wyndham-Read
@bawdy @sex
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