You may like to try our Australian-NZ Folksong Quiz before reading this page.
These notes are comments on songs featured in that quiz.
Q1. Paul Metser's "Shotover River" is sung in Western Australia as "Pilbara Desert." True
It is a Western Australian version, written by Bob Emery.
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Pilbara desert, your gold it is waning,
It's weeks since the colour I've seen, But it's no use complaining or lady luck blaming, I'll pack up and make the break clean. Chorus:- Farewell to the gold that never was found, Farewell to the nuggets that somewhere abound, For it's only when dreaming that I see you gleaming, Down in the dark deep underground. It's nearly two years since I left me old mother, For riches and gold by the pound. But Jimmy the prospector he was another, For the plains around Roebourne was bound. We searched at Mt Welcome to the north and the south, Dry blowing with no water around. But in the furnace-like heat we knew we were beat, Not an ounce in six months had we found. From Swan River to Cossack we sailed away, We were five boring weeks on that boat. We'd sold our belongings our fares for to pay, There was gold in our sights and our hopes. Well it's years now since Jimmy and I were out digging, Roebourne gold dried up like the rest, The hardship, the dying, those memories are gone, I remember those years as the best. |
"Here's the background," writes Phil Garland. "I toured right round Australia in 1981 after guesting at the National Festival in Brisbane. One place I played was Cossack about 1000 miles north of Perth in WA. I sang Paul Metser's song "Farewell To The Gold."
"When I returned to Aust and went to live in Perth 1988 I met up with a local musician Bob Emery. Bob had been in Cossack when I performed there earlier in 1981.
"Bob then asked if If I minded him having rewritten the song "Farewell To The Gold" for use in a West Australian gold mining workshop at a festival a few years ago. I told him I didn't mind but he would have to contact Paul for full permission.
"Bob was then quite surprised to learn that I hadn't written it....which I found even more surprising because I always credit Paul Metsers with authorship. Obviously he wasn't listening too closely on the night or just recorded the song without the intro."
Q 2. "The Banks of the Condamine," known in many versions throughout Australia, is sung in New Zealand as "The Banks of the Waikato". True
Phil Garland re-wrote the words and composed a new tune for it in the 1960s. It is published in "Songs of a Young Country."
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Oh hark the dogs are barking, my love I must away
The men are all a-waiting, and no longer can I stay. For I am bound for camp my love- 'tis many a mile to go To meet my fellow bushmen on the banks of the Waikato. |
Q3. Although Davy Lowston is called a "New Zealand" song, it was probably written in Sydney, in about 1814. True
Or possibly Hobart, which was also home-base to many sealers. Frank Fyfe researched this topic in 1970 (His paper has been re-published on this web-site) He wrote:
"In fact, what most probably happened in the case of the composition of David Lowston was that in about 1814 some old lag in the Rocks area of old Sydney Town, with an ear for a good tale and an eye out for possible free drinks, being familiar with both the published and oral reports of the landing of Lowrieston's party, combined his verse-making skill with the Captain Kidd melody to form the ballad resembling what we have of it today. No doubt his ballad started: My name is David Lowrieston, I did seal, I did seal.Our supposed composer, with a touch of showmanship related to securing the attention of would-be benefactors in the grogshops, probably added the little details about the ten thousand seals (the actual number was fourteen thousand, but this doesn't scan into the tune quite so easily), and the sickness resulting in the death of some of the party." FULL STORY
Q4. Pokarekare ana, Nga wai a Murrumbigee. False.
At least not yet in 2001. Although Northerner Kiri Te Kanawa sings of "Nga wai a Rangitoto"
Q5. Taumarunui is known in Oz as "Cootamundra On The Main Trunk Line." True
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Y' kin gedder job in Seedney or gedder job up north
But y'kentin Cootamundra though y'try fer all yer worth... |
Phil Garland writes again, "It was recorded in Aust by Ian McNamara after hearing a recording of Mike Harding performing it. It was a deliberate reworking by him to make a good song accessible to the Oz audience.
"Macca, as he is known around Australia, fronts a nation wide radio programme entitled "Australia All Over" on the ABC which airs every Sunday morning from 5.30 - 10am. He's also recorded Gumboots passing it off as Australian, but crediting John Clarke / Fred Dagg...who is of course a true blue Australian!!
"Also Imagine my surprise," writes Phil, "when I heard Macca sing Smoko, Spello one morning and to then be told later by the Wongawilli lads that a band called "Leaping LIzards" had won the best contemporary bush song category with "Smoko" at the annual Bush Music Festival held in Glen Innes. This festival is attended by several thousand people."
Q6. When Martin Curtis sings in Australia, he is sometimes asked if Gin and Raspberry
is his variant of a well-known Wongawilli song. True
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Oh but it's hard, cruel and cold
Searching Kiandra for nuggets of gold An ounce to the bucket and we'll all sell our souls For a taste of the Rum and Raspberry |
David De Santi of the Australian group Wongawilli wrote to me (May 1999) that they recorded their Rum & Raspberry version of Martin's song after hearing someone play it at the Maleny Folk Festival in 1988.
David also noted that they do Leatherman, Dug-Out in the True and have done The Swag and the Shiner.
He said a Brisbane band called Leaping Lizards used to do Smoko-Spello, a number of groups and performers have played Farewell to the Gold, and he thought Talking Dog is on Alan Scott's latest CD.
Q9. 'The Shanty by the Way', well-known to NZ folksingers, originated in Australia in 1865 as the 'Public by the Way' . True
Frank Fyfe researched its origins and did a paper on this too. I read it years ago, and hopefully will get it re-published onto this site soon.
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It's a first-rate business section
Where four bush roads cross and meet It stands in a neat and quiet direction To rest the weary traveller's feet |
Compiled by John Archer, 2nd January 2001