G'day Mcgrath (and freda),

Yes, I was aware that Henry wrote this 1896 - and, in a much earlier thread ran through the movement's of the newly wed Lawson's around that time. The lines from the final chorus, quoted 9½ years ago by Alan of Oz:

Last chorus
But I'll try my luck for a cheque Out Back, then a last good-bye to the bush;
For my heart's away on the Outside Track, on the track of the steerage push.

are an accurate prediction of Henry & Bertha's movements over the next few years: after their marriage in April 1896 they tried, first, Western Australian and then New Zealand before returning to Sydney and sailing to England in April 1900. Henry's The Men Who Made Australia, a bitter look at the "upper classes" fawning on British royalty visiting for the celeration of Australia's Federation, as a nation, no longer a "colony', was actually written in London ... and is still worth trotting out as a worthwhile antidote to fawning royalists during significant local celebrations!

Regards,

Bob