The Bicentennial Song

by John Dengate

Cook went a-sailing, or so the record says
He roared around New Zealand and he stopped at Botany Bay

   refrain
   Oh why did he do it , who oh who can tell
   There’s bugger all at La Perouse, Cronulla or Kurnell

Cook stood on the quarterdeck, endeavouring to see
He parked his little boat beside the oil refinery

Cook saw some natives, all done up in paint
And he tried to call the Kogarah police, to put in a complaint

He went to the Sans Souci pub, to have a quiet beer
But a fight broke out in the public bar, and he nearly lost an ear

Well Cook weighed his anchor, and sailed across the foam
‘Cause he couldn’t stand the bloody row from Mascot aerodrome



Thanks to my old mate, Jeff Corfield, for this one, which I recalled him singing in Perth in the early 70s.
Jeff says : “….. John Dengate wrote it for the Cook bicentennial in 1970….. I learnt it from my old Maitland Bush Band mate, Bob Campbell ….. The tune, as I recall, was a version of the Darby Ram – the ‘ay winkle Darby’ one….. “

Does anyone know of an online recording???


R-J