G'day Hothgar,

I was just quoting the whole notes ... which I did not do in my 1985 anthology - precisely because I didn't think they added much to the case. The Singabout issue was May 1958, when the mag was editied by John Meredith, assisted by Alan Scott - so I couldn't imagine that remark had much to do with John Manifold ... who was something less that a close friend of either!

However, it does come out of that desire to find that the apparent author has "pinched it" from the great unknown (and unwashed ... ?) folk. Admittedly, there are 'unauthored' songs closely related to Shearers' Dream ... obviously Australia's on the Wallaby comes to mind.

Did SD descend from AotW ... or vice versa? ... Did the great anonymous folk take Lawson's poem and use it for a model for other purposes? (Although the tone of Australia's on the Wallaby might just suggest that it's a bit of Lawson incunabula!)

Regard(les)s,

Bob