FAREWELL TO THE GOLD
(P.Metsers/R.Emery)

Pilbara desert, your gold it is waning
It's weeks since the colour I've seen
But it's no use complaining or lady luck blaming
I'll pack up and make the break clean

Chorus
Farewell to the gold that never was found
Farewell to the nuggets that somewhere abound
For it's only when dreaming that I see you gleaming
Down in the dark deep underground

It's nearly two years since I left me old mother
For riches and gold by the pound
But Jimmy the prospector he was another
For the plains around Roebourne was bound

We searched at Mt Welcome to the north and the south
Dry blowing with no water around
But in the furnace-like heat we knew we were beat
Not an ounce in six months had we found

From Swan River to Cossack we sailed away
We were five boring weeks on that boat
We'd sold our belongings our fares for to pay
There was gold in our sights and our hopes

Well it's years now since Jimmy and I were out digging
Roebourne gold dried up like the rest
The hardship, the dying, those memories are gone
I remember those years as the best

Bob Emery's rewrite of Paul Metsers' 'Farewell to the Gold' for a WA context.

--Stewie.