THE OLD-MAN KANGAROO
Anon.

1
Bill Chippin and myself one time
Got bushed in the Mallee scrub.
For two long days and two long nights
We hadn't tasted grub.
But on the third my blessed word,
My word, I tell you true,
Bill espied with joyful pride
an old-man kangaroo.
2
That kangaroo he sighted up
And sat upon his tail;
He looked at us contemptuously
Without a shake or quail,
As much as to say, "To come this way
What business friends have you?
By cripes, says Bill, I'd like to kill
That old-man kangaroo.
3
So, without another word he rushed
With waddy in his hand
To quell that big bold kangaroo
That undauntedly did stand.
He made a blow, his hairy foe
Upon poor William flew;
As sure as fate he grabbed my mate,
That old-man kangaroo.
4
He grabbed him tightly around the waist
And Bill began to roar
And such an awful struggle, boys,
I never saw before.
Old Bill he cries, "Now blow my eyes,
He'll break my back in two!
Oh Mick be quick and fetch a stick
And kill this kangaroo."
5
A lucky thought came in my head
To set poor William free;
The bump of ingenuity
Is very big with me;
So from my swag, my tucker bag
(Provisionless) I drew-
I ran to where Bill in despair
Tugged with the kangaroo.
6
So sneaking up behind the brute
My bag I opened wide,
I drew it right dowm on his head
And then the string I tied
Around his neck which seemed to check
His progress; then I drew
My dover out, and with a shout
I tailed that kangaroo.
7
Now a kangaroo without a tail
Can't run and that you know,
So finding his dependent gone
He let poor William go.
He gave a wail, for the hairy tail,
The tale I tell you true;
He gave a jump but sank a lump,
A lifeless kangaroo.
8
My mate was not muck knocked about
For scarcely was he freed
When turning round to me he said
"Now Mick we'll have a feed!"
So Bill he got the billy-pot
And made some splendid stew-
The sweetest meat I ever eat
Was the tail of that kangaroo.

pp. 182-183. Douglas Stewart and Nancy Keesing, 1957, Angus and Robertson, Sydney.
Dr Percy Jones Collection, "....from an old bushman up in the Goulburn Valley some sixty years ago...A. Stevens. The song is slightly emended here from another version collected by John Meridith from "Hoopiron" Jack Lee, of Auburn, NSW."