As sung by Trevor Lucas: ON THE BANKS OF THE CONDAMINE Oh hark! The dogs are barking now, I can no longer stay The men have all gone mustering and it is nearly day And I must be off in the morning, love, before the sun does shine To meet the Sydney shearers on the banks of the Condamine Oh Willie, dearest Willie, oh let me go with you I'll cut off all of my auburn fringe and I'll be a shearer too And I'll help you count your tally, love, while ringer-o you shine And I'll wash your greasy moleskins on the banks of the Condamine Oh Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know you cannot go The boss has given his orders, love, no woman shall do so And your delicate constitution isn't equal unto mine To stand that constant tigering on the banks of the Condamine Oh Willie, dearest Willie, then stay at home with me We'll take up a selection, love, and a farmer's wife I'll be And I'll help you husk the corn, my love, and I'll cook your meals so fine You'll forget that ram-stag mutton on the banks of the Condamine Oh Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know I cannot stay The men have all gone mustering, I heard the publican say So here's a goodbye kiss, my love, to homeward I'll incline When we've shorn the last of the jumbucks on the banks of the Condamine Youtube clip Note from Mark Gregory's Australian Folk Songs site: Folklorist Dr Edgar Waters writes (Australian Tradition Oct 1966) : "The Banks of the Condamine seems to have been one of the most widely distributed bush songs. In recent years it has been reported from singers in northern Victoria and the Northern Territory, and a number of different versions have been recorded in New South Wales and in Queensland. Sometimes the man is going off to a horse-breaking camp rather than a shearing shed. In Victoria, and at least in southern New South Wales, it seems to have been known as 'The Banks of the Riverine', and perhaps this was the original form. The words of 'The Banks of the Condamine' were made over from 'The Banks of the Nile', a British Ballad of the beginning of the nineteenth century." --Stewie.
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