Here, I think, is the other song that was mentioned in this thread. I couldn't find a recording by Slim Dusty to listen to, but I suppose this is close:


SADDLE BOY
As sung by Reg Poole on "The Cream of Australian Country Music"

Through the grey frosty dawn
Ev'ry cold winter's morn
Rode this lad full of life and joy.
Ev'ry day just the same,
Down the roadway he came.
He was known as their own saddle boy.

In his youth free from strife,
He was called from this life,
From the sorrows of life's highway.
He was needed above
At the homestead of love
For the last final roundup someday.

Now the sad willows wave
On a cold silent grave
Where the tall grasses bend and bow,
And the jackass's laugh
Is the only epitaph
O'er the grave of this brave saddle boy.

At the schoolhouse on the rise,
Teacher always watched the skies
For the storm clouds that rose like foam.
"You've a long way," she said,
"So you'd better go ahead.
Saddle up, saddle boy; ride for home."

He had ten miles to ride
Through the dark countryside
While the storm all around raged on.
Just one creek left to cross,
Struck by driftwood, boy and horse,
Swept away by the mad raging foam.

And the lightning overhead
Showed the last sandy bed
Where the boy and the pony lay,
And old boundary-rider Troy
Was the one who found the boy
And he took the saddening message home next day.

Now the old people say
On the long nights in May
When the wind through the valley roam,
Pounding hoofbeats resound
Through the tall timberland.
It's their own saddle boy riding home.


[Very similar lyrics are sung by Bob Easter on "By Request."]