G'day JB,

That extra stanza to Shores of Botany Bay ... starting:

The best years of our lives we've spent, working on the docks.

is added by the (modern) Bushwackers ... at least it is credited to one of their members in The Bushwackers Song Book. If it was sung by the Clancys, I presume they picked it up from the Bushwackers. Given the last line, it always struck me as odd that they sing it as the last verse ... it really fits in, chronologically, as the first verse (I don't know where you place it, of course).

Actually, I must have another listen to their recording to see if the last line reads exactly the same as you give ... I think their published version may have a different tense. I don't sing this verse myself, preferring to stick to Duke Tritton's original.

I must have lost my 'trace' on this thread - I notice there are a few tunes and words I promised ... and they don't seem to have been delivered ... yet!

Regards,

Bob Bolton