G'day Mick,

Aint it so! I pick up Soodlum's Irish song books and find stuff pinched off everybody. I guess that what annoys me is that there is so much Irish that is really good in its own right. Certainly, as an Australian, I have to admit that the best of our singing traditions came solidly out of the Irish and I suppose I should not begrudge it when they grab a bit back.

On which line (and related to one of our early Irish transports 'Frank the Poet' - see 'Whisky in the Jar' thread) the Australian song most thoroughly purloined by the Irish ... and anyone else descended from them ... is 'The Wild Colonial Boy'. This took off in many directions from Frank's poem 'Jack Donaghue', written after the death of a notorious escaped convict bushranger of the Sydney region (shot 1829). Frank was writing from what was already Convict folklore, since he did not arrive in Australia until 1832.

Regards,

Bob Bolton: 1/16 Irish, 1/16 Dutch, 3/4 assorted Pommies (English), 1/8 sub judice.