G'day GUEST,Q,

That's an interesting variant, from Merro's first volume of Folk Songs of Australia and the men and women who sang them. John got quite a few variants over the years - it was obviously a popular song ... and drovers got all round the place.

bradfordian and gnomad: I take it that The Drovers, by Keith Marsden, would be a UK (probably English) modern song. Some of the terms, particularly "hirings" were not common in Australia and the general tone sounds "English" (to me, anyway). In an English context, would the term "drover" have had the same sense as in Australia - a person who escorted large groups of cattle or sheep over long distances - or would it have had a more general sense of a wagoner or carter?

Regards,

Bob Bolton