Kiwi
songs - Maori
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This
recitation was written two months after New Zealand joined
the 1915 invasion of Turkey. Performed in theatres, it was
wildly popular throughout NZ, and also in Australia as The
Kid From Woolamooloo. 18 months later Marschel made a
silent movie to accompany his recital of it. A revised
version of it was recited in World War 2.
A
sunny-faced youngster from Timaru,
he was always cracking up his little town.
..fought like a young tiger. He’s in
hospital
now, but will be heard of again.
—Extract from a soldier's
letter.
The boys aboard the transport
were busy talking "fight,"
We'd just begun our journey,
said 'Good-bye' to Farewell light,
Some were skitin' awful
of the deeds they meant to do,
When he butted in promiskus
with "I'm Kidd, from
Timaru."
His years were twenty; wavin' hair
above two steel-grey
eyes,
A laughing face — you know the sort
the smile that makes
smiles rise;
At first we barely noticed him
until again he drew
Attention, by repeatin' his
"I'm
Kidd, from Timaru."
Oh! Timaru —
that tiny town—
he'd got it on the brain,
We 'd
start to talk of many things
but he stuck to one refrain;
We hoped we might
see London,
p'raps Berlin, and Paris, too;
And then he calmly asked us,
if we'd been in Timaru.
And he'd a girl in
Timaru —
a girl with Irish eyes — '
"A genuine oil paintin'"
guessed she'd tumbled
from the skies;
He referred to her as "scrumptious" —
was satisfied he knew
That her eyes were fixed on Egypt,
though she lived in Timaru.
Egypt! Well, we
got there,
to its endless
sand and sun,
Then drilling,
always drilling—
a case of - never done;
Sand and sand,
fierce burning sand,
our red-hot curses drew,
And Kidd admitted Egypt had
more sand than Timaru.
Then came the news that we could get
a chance to win our spurs,
To play the game and show our breed
was not a breed of curs.
We were ordered off to Gaba
to face tho Turkish crew,
We yelled "New Zealand will be there!"
— Kidd said "And Timaru!"
A rousin' cheer, that split the sky
went boundin' through the
air;
We vow'd when we struck Gaba
they'd know that we were there.
We swore for King and Country,
our very best to do,
Kidd swore for King and country,
and added— Timaru.
The world knows
how we played the game
on Gaba Tepe's shore
How ploughin'
through the gates of Hell,
the brunt of fire we bore,
Blood-painted
sand proclaimed
the doom
of comrades good and true
But 'bullets somehow seemed to miss
young Kidd from Timaru.
We faced "Loosed Hell" as scrunching o'er
the sand we scaled the cliff
While Turkish snipers' rifles mowed
men down at every whiff
No fellows stopped
to count the cost
as up the bank we flew,
And level with the foremost ran
young Kidd from Timaru.
Old Abdul under cover
was as cunning as a rat;
As yet we'd done no shootin'
saw no thing we could shoot at,
Till a Turkey popped his head up
that head he ne'er withdrew,
For a rifle pinged, the sergeant said,
"Turk's head for Timaru."
And when the fight was over
and each had
done his part
And felt a man and soldier,
with aching
eye and heart,
I searched among
the wounded for
the fellows
that I knew,
I turned one over on the sand
-'twas Kidd from Timaru.
He'd carried in his Captain,
almost dying, through the  wrack
Of smoke and fire of battle;
but just as he'd got back,
A Turkish sniper "pink'd" him
but the bullet went clean
through,
And when he's well they'll hear again
from Kidd of Timaru.
We both could do with patchin'
so they popped us into dock,
Where we lie, with many others,
with our eyes fixed on the
clock,
Wonderin' when the time will come,
when we're well enough to do
Some more for Old New Zealand—
and Kidd "Some more for
Timaru!"
Last week a "Head" slipped in and read
a cable from the King;
He thanked his "gallant soldiers!"
We made the sick room ring
With cheers — real rousin' hearty cheers
— then Kidd said "Strike me blue;
I hope to God he's not forgot
to cable Timaru.
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World War Two version of The
Kid From Timaru
New Zealand soldiers trained
in Cairo, fought German paratroopers on the island of
Crete, and were forced to retreat and return to Cairo.
They next had to fight Italian, and then German,
artillery, tanks and infantry in Libya.
This is from the
oral rendition.
"We were spellbound as Alex B. recited this poem
he learnt as a child and recited for us at a Tawa
School parent school gathering. The words are
as Alex recalls them after 55+ years."
Submitted
by Winsome Griffin, 14 Feb 2000
The
boys aboard the transport
were busy talking fight.
We'd just begun our journey -
said "Good Bye" to Farewell
Light;
Some were skitin' awful,
of things they meant to do.
We hoped we might see London,
Berlin and Paris too
When the kid he asked us all
if we had been to Timaru.
Egypt, when we got there,
to its endless sand and sun
Drilling - always drilling,
a case of never done.
Sand, more sand, fierce burning sand,
our red hot curses drew,
The kid admitted Egypt
had more sand than Timaru.
Then came the news that we would get
our chance to win our spurs,
To play the game and show our breed
was not the breed of curs.
We were ordered out of Egypt
to face the German crew -
We yelled "New Zealand will be there;
the kid "And Timaru".
The world knows how we played that game
on enemies' bleak shores,
How ploughing through the gates of hell,
the brunt of fire we bore.
Blood-stained sands proclaimed the doom
of comrades, good and true
But bullets somehow seemed to miss
the kid from Timaru.
He'd carried in his Captain,
almost dying, through
the rack
Of smoke and fire and battle,
but just as he got back
A German sniper shot him,
the bullet went right
through.
When he's well, we'll hear again
from the kid from Timaru.
Back across to Egypt
where they put us into dock
We lay with many others,
our eyes fixed on the clock
Wondering when the time would come,
when we were well enough,
To do our bit for old New Zealand,
the kid "Some more for Timaru".
The other night the Head came in
with a message from the King.
He thanked his gallant soldiers,
we made the sickroom
ring
With cheers, real rousing hearty cheers,
the kid said "Strike me blue-
I hope to God he has not forgot
to cable Timaru."
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Put onto folksong.org.nz website September 2023
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