ROSS RIVER COWBOY

Dave Oakes

Out in the Eastern McDonalds he roams
With his swag and his camels, so far from home
Dining on parrots and wallaby stew
Drinking his coffee; there’s so much to do,
When the Condamine’s quiet and the sun has gone west
The Ross River Cowboy by his campfire he rests
He looks so much younger than the years of his age
The Ross River Cowboy, the Spinifex Sage.

Chorus
Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie aye
The Ross River Cowboy don’t have much to say
Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie, Whoop-a-tie eye
The Ross River Cowboy, he’s just getting by.

When horizons are miraged and the summer’s ablaze
And the snake’s breath’s entwining the ranges with haze
By his campfire he sits and he passes the hours
Drinking and smoking and taking cold showers,
He’s preparing his saddles for that time in the fall
When he takes to the creeks and the low lands that call
And he drinks in the air like he’s dry as a bone
The Ross River Cowboy, he’s heading home.

I once saw a sunset, he said with a sigh
When the world was young and so was I
When the sky was much brighter than the garnets of Hale*
And when campfires at night told so many tales,
But now the Toyotas, they are scouring the land
You can drive to Arltunga* just using one hand
No one sees the forest for the trees, I am sure
And I’ve never heard him say so much before.


*Hale is a river to the East of Alice, mostly dry. Ross River is an early small settlement East of Alice. Arltunga is an historical gold mining area East of Alice Springs, being the first European settlement from the 1880s.

This song is by DAVE OAKES, resident of Central Aust, written mid 1980s – now from his inaugural 2014 CD recording, “Made in Alice Springs” – but I have not yet found his work online.

Interviews : https://timberandsteel.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/national-folk-festival-interview-dave-oakes/    and    https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2015/02/15/a-tuneful-tick-off-daves-bucket-list/

In one of the above interviews, Dave said this song was inspired by his travels with local Centralian identity and cameleer, Hal Duell.
I had it in my memory from years ago, that this song was actually about Noel Fullerton, the Alice Springs “Camel King” (1934-2015) …… and maybe it still was! Anyhoo, here are some Camel links for The Alice.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-07/camel-king-noel-fullerton-dies-aged-81/6754934

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015 : The Alice Springs Camel Cup (2012) + a Noel Fullerton interview.

A Chicago journalist on Noel’s Centralian Camel Safari in 1985 : https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-09-29-8503060244-story.html



R-J