Thanks for that lead gnomad. Further research has revealed:-

THE DROVERS by Keith Marsden (in Yorkshire, about as far away from Oz as you can get)

Oh, I was a lad when I saw the fisrt signs
The gahering of beast and of man
The ???? of the halter and dogs running free
For the drovers were on the road again

CHORUS
Oh the droving days are gone
And the drovers day is run
For there's railways laid
And they've taken the trade
And the droving days are gone

For we had the freedom of high moor and fell
No fences and walls bound us then
The meetings with old friends at farmstead or fair
And the drovers were on the road again

I'm old and there's no place at hirings for me
For who wants a bent broken man
I wish God would bring back the days that we knew
When the drovers are on the road again

From the Picking Sooty Blackberries CD (CR CD001)

additional verse
We cursed down the valleys, we cursed up the hills
We stumbled through marsh bog and fen
Each year was the last that we knew come the spring
That the drovers are on the road again

another verse perhaps?
BTW, drover does seem strange for an English term!
Great tune, Vivaldi you say?

Brad

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See this thread for another transcription, which may be more complete.