G'day yet again,

Oh yes, I should have commented that the other version in John Manifold's The Penguin Australian Songbook has an interesting pedigree - it was collected down in Kelly Country in the 1890s from W.J. (Billy) Wye - now being belatedly recognised as an excellent poet in his own right.

It may well be that Wye has done a bit of his own polishing to the verses, not an uncommon thing in the Victorian era. It certainly reduces the story to a length that might even be acceptable to modern audiences (possibly not the most modern, raised on television's "fifteen second sound bite"!).

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton