THE BROKEN-HEARTED SHEARER

I'm a broken-hearted shearer and ashamed to show my face
For the way that I've been treated is a shame and a disgrace
Now I’ve got me cheque together and I thought that it would do
So I went down to Bendigo to spend a week or two
Now I knew I wasn’t flat so resolved to cut it fat
And I dressed meself from top to toe, put a pugg'ree round me hat
Then I went to get a nobbier at a certain house in town
Where the barmaid was a caution for to lamb a shearer down

She had all the slang and flash talk that was going round the town
And she'd sling it at me right and left while I was lambing down
Well me money being nearly spent, I resolved to know my fate
So I asked that pretty barmaid if she would be me mate
“Well the fact is this, young man, on my feelings don't encroach
I'm a decent married woman and my husband drives the coach"
So I’ve sold me good old horse and I'll get some work, I hope
I've a pipe and some tobaccy and half a bar of soap

So I’m leaving Sandhurst now with me billy and jackshay
And a pair of old torn leggings and a jar of Holloways
That’s why I’m a broken-hearted shearer and ashamed to show me face
For the way that I’ve been treated is a shame and a disgrace

This is the version sung by Martyn Wyndham-Read. Martyn noted that he got it from David Lumsden who learnt it from his grandmother who spent much of her childhood in the Riverina. The tune is 'The wearing of the green'. 'Lambed down' was the term given to a luckless shearer after the barmaid had prised the last drop out of his cheque. A 'pugg'ree' is a thin muslim cloth (from the word for a turban). 'Holloways' was a family ointment sold in a earthenware jar.

Youtube clip

The first publication of the song in 1886 here:

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On Thompson's blog, you can find a different version collected by Meredith.

--Stewie.