I knew there'd be sensible responses; thanks to you both. I hadn't meant to imply that the texts above had had an oral tradition separate from the broadsides but the variety of spellings I've observed on Mudcat, for things that I'd have thought as being 'set in concrete' so to speak, set me wondering aloud about the interraction between the written and spoke (or sung in this case) words. As it happens, I do have frequent dealings with linguists (although not usually about songs) and etymologists (ditto) as well as ethnologists and would walk considerable distances to avoid strict application of phonetics. I'd not seen Peacock's comments but heartily agree; thanks, Malcolm, for putting them up.

As I said, mine were idle thoughts.

And, while we're on about Tasmania, I've yet to find a song that refers to Tasmanians (or Vandemonians) as Taswegians, although the term has a fairly respectable currency; perhaps I haven't yet looked hard enough.

Cheers, Rowan