NEW  ZEALAND
FO LK * SONG

Come All You Tonguers

Traditional 1830s

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Shore whaling began in New Zealand in about 1829 and ten years later there were about 1000 shore whalers in harbours all along the East Coast. But they killed the baby whales resting in the harbours, and thus wiped out the population they were preying on. By the 1850s the boom was over.




  1. C Come all you tonguers and land-loving lubbers
    Here's a G7 job cutting-in, and boiling down blubbers
    A C job for the youngster or old and ailing
    The agent will grab any man for shore G7 whaling

     I am C paid in soap and G7 sugar and rum
    For cutting in whale and C boiling down tongue
    The F agent's fee makes my C blood so to boil!
    I'll push! him in a G7 hot pot of C oil.
  2. Go hang the agent, the company too
    They are G7 making a fortune off me and off you
    No chance of a passage from out of this place
    And the price of living's a blooming dis-G7-grace    .

Shore Whaling

Shore-based whalers hunted the black or right whale, which followed established migration routes around the New Zealand coast. In early winter females travelled up the east coast of the South Island. Some passed through Cook Strait, while others went on up the east coast. Along the way they sheltered in harbours such as Otago, Akaroa or Cloudy Bay to calve.

Because right whales were big, relatively peaceful, and did not usually sink once killed, they were easy targets.... More

Come All You Tonguers on record

1959, Song Spinners, Songs of the whalers, Kiwi 45
1985, Arthur Toms, Trypots, cradles and gutboards, Radio NZ, cassette
1986, Phil Garland, Hunger in the air, Kiwi Pacific, cassette
1998, Mike Harding, Past to the present, CD
2000, NZ Secondary Students' Choir, Sing we triumphant, CD
2003, Maritime Crew, Under the Southern Cross, Ode, CD
2006, NZ Secondary Students' Choir, Choral champions, CD

Other New Zealand songs of whales and whalers.

Paikea - The whale rider ...A wizard emerges, a taniwha is coming ashore.
Po! Po! - The boy is crying for food! Let the whale be driven ashore.
Blood Red Roses - My good old Captain said to me, "We'll plunder to a high degree!"
Soon may the Wellerman come - The supply ship ...to bring us sugar, tea and rum.
Across The Line - An old sailor remembers ...I've traded with the Maoris, Brazilians and Chinese.
Ko'rareka - ...you're a hellhole, say the missionaries, But after all I've been through, you're heaven to me.
I Only Spoke Portuguese - A shanghai'd boy escaped from a whaler and fell in love with a Maori girl.

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Published on the web May 1st, 2008