intro to Bold Tommy Payne- https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=34376

The following is basically from Singabout, Journal of Australian Folksong, Volume. 4, Number 1, 1960, pp 6 & 7, Bush Music Club, Sydney, (with additions and minor corrections from Singabout, Volume. 4, Number 3, 1961, p15).

The author is the indefatigable collector Ron Edwards of Kuranda, North Queensland.

The dangers of mistaking a recent song for a traditional one are very real and Bold Tommy Payne with its references to pig dogs and wild boars is good case in point. Written as recently as 1953, it has already appeared on LP records and in the Queensland Centenary Songbook, under the heading of "traditional" on William Clausen's record and "heard in Garradunga Pub1947" in the songbook.
:
In 1953 Jack Crossland, the author of the song and John Crane (Tom Payne) both canefarmers of Smithfield, N. Q. were out hunting wild pigs which come down from the Kuranda ranges and cause extensive damage in the canefields. Their pig dogs set up a big black and white boar which came charging down the track towards them. Jack set off smartly for the nearest sapling but John was slower and the boar caught him, tusking him in the groin and tearing his clothes about.
:
Later on both men saw the humour of the incident and Jack Crossland wrote a song about the incident, "Bold Johnny Crane" which soon became very popular in the district. When the American singer William Clausen visited Cairns he heard the song and later put it on his record of Australian songs. He changed the name Johnny Crane to Tommy Payne at the request of the Crane family. Originally sung to the tune On Top of Old Smokey it was later. changed to Villikins and his Dinah. Here then is the original: -