OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Ah... the bushranger song. Interesting how in Australia bushrangers were outlaws while in Texas the lone ranger was a good guy.. I own Ashes and Diamonds - it's got the other Eric Bogle song on it. Haven't listened to a CD in YEARS, though.. and it's been many years since I've listened to this.

Here, I'll inline it for you.



June Tabor came to town a couple times to perform, she did Anachie Gordon once, which was a favorite of mine (I liked Mary Black's version).

By the way, the parody of "And the band played Waltzing Matilda" was called "And the band played and the band played Waltzing Matilda" in case anyone wants to look it up..

Iskandar

CD? I'm talking vinyl LP. and not the sort you use on BH.

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Other setups:
SDC Custom Blade/Butterfly Dignics 80/Butterfly Glayzer
BTY Viscaria/Tibhar K3/Tibhar K3

Actually, probably a few people here know of Linn Products and the Linn LP12 turntable. The Streets of Forbes was one of the tracks that Linn would use in their brain-washing --- sorry, indoctrination --- sorry, training sessions, to show how much better the LP12 was than anything else. I still have my LP12, bought in the 70s.

_________________
Other setups:
SDC Custom Blade/Butterfly Dignics 80/Butterfly Glayzer
BTY Viscaria/Tibhar K3/Tibhar K3

Can't remember when I bought Ashes and Diamonds. CDs had been around for maybe five years by then, most likely in the 1990s. I was one of these people who was always taping stuff off the radio, and we had a fantastic Public Radio station. Eventually I was taping (audio) on HiFi VHS, connected to a FM radio, because the VCR had a programmable timer. I'd buy the CD if there was something I really liked, and when I could find one, but I was forced to buy CASSETTES in a couple of cases, because they hadn't printed CDs or had to run out of them. I still have the VHS tapes - mainly the weekend shows, six hours to a tape, and I hope they haven't gone bad. Someday I'll digitize some of it.

Anyhow, this was mentioned earlier in the thread, and I just listened to it. Had a good chuckle over it, too. More Banjo Paterson.



Their eyes were dull, their heads were flat, they had no brains at all

Iskandar

Yep, been to Sydney. Know 'em well.

Oh.. I found this!!!



Iskandar

Oh yeah! Just remembered this one... and I've no idea why I'd think was Australian to begin with, other than, in my youth, I watched a TV episode of "McCloud" which he spent in Australia. And an Australian bar, where they sang this while he chugged a beer. (There was also something about Australian beer being stronger than American beer or it might've been the other way around.. ) Looking around, this was the funniest (and longest) version I could find.



I mean, you HAVE to have a sea shanty in this series, right? Oh... this is an interesting discovery. This particular poster's got a LOT of stuff up, much of it in the same vein.

Iskandar

More Seekers and more Waltzing Matilda.



Say what???? Apparently it's the "Queensland Version". Queensland Version? I never heard of a Queensland Version. Well, I hadn't, until I came across this video (truth be told, it was another video with the same song) ten years ago. And an Australian friend I forwarded it to hadn't heard of a Queensland Version either. Makes you wonder if there isn't a New South Wales version or a Tasmania version (not to mention a Nothern Territory version.. ). Turns out the song's changed over the years.. lots of information on Wikipedia. The current words are from a version commissioned by a.. tea merchant? (Billy Tea brand..).

There's a photo of the original handwritten manuscript on Wikipedia.



Those of you who read music can tell us which tune it is.. (Someday I might try picking it out on pennywhistle.. but it's been years since I've tried to play written music..)

"Waltzing matilda and leading a water bag.."

Iskandar

Songs about trains and train travel.. there's always something romantic about trains. Here's an Australian one.



Ten years ago when I was looking for stuff by The Seekers this stood out, as being one where Judith Durham didn't do the lead vocals and the three men came to the fore. I wonder how much that tablecloth cost...

As an aside, I wonder if there was ever a "hobo culture" in Australia, like there was in the US, particularly in the 1930s with lots of people being out of work and hopping on freight trains. In the US this led to a lot of really good songs - there was a connection between hopping trains and labor activism, and a great deal of nostalgia about it afterwards. So far I haven't come across any Australian songs on the subject. I suppose Waltzing Matilda comes close (there was a connection between the song as a shearer's strike shortly before it was written, and the wandering swagman was supposedly one of the striking shearers who was out of a job - and he was on his way somewhere, except it was on foot).

Iskandar

Swagman (swaggie) = US hobo = UK tramp

Great depression: unemployment peaked at 30% in 1932, five year average >25%, higher than USA. In particular, large numbers of servicemen returned from WW1 were out "on the wallaby". I'm not sure how much hopping on trains there was, but suspect our much less developed railways meant less than in the USA. Not many railway lines in most of outback Australia.

I suppose most of the freight train hopping would have occurred along the east and northern coasts, where most of the major cities and railroads would have been. I'm not really sure what counts as "outback" - the great dry interior would be, I suppose, but I think most of the sheep stations, and a great deal of bushland, are within a couple hundred miles of coast. "The Rattler" mentions a "northern railway".

Here's another (much more famous) one about a train. Except this time the train is metaphorical. For some strange reason it reminds me of "The City of New Orleans" (I found a really neat video, which I'll post next month).



Iskandar

I'm not really surprised that people from overseas know so little about life in Australia; after all, most of us really only understand our own patch of dirt. (Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion that lots of Aussies don't know all that much about their own country either.)

FWIW, Australia is one of the most urbanised countries on the planet. 89% of us live in cities and large towns. The 10 largest urban areas account for 17,280,000 Australians out of a total population of 25 million. Which leaves less than 8 million to spread across a continent the size of mainland USA. All of which means Australia is basically empty. I've lived in towns "a couple of hundred miles" from the coast and, believe you me, I was effectively living in the bush. The coast I was near was just about as empty of people as "outback" Australia.

Rawlinna sheep station is less than a couple of hundred miles from the coast; that coast happens to be the Great Australian Bight. It's nearly 1,000 km to Perth. Rawlinna, at 3,906 sq. mi., is larger than two US states - Delaware and Rhode Island. Anna Creek cattle station is 9,142 sq. mi., which makes it larger than Israel and 7 times larger than the largest cattle ranch in USA. It's nearest town is William Creek with a population of 10! Both the romanticised view of Australia (Aussie beaches and endless barbecues with cute kangaroos in attendance) and the horror version (crocodiles, sharks, snakes and spiders) are so far from the truth of suburban dwelling, domesticated and boring Australia. We don't do swagmen nowadays. Now it's homeless men and women sitting on city streets, while the vast interior is either empty or on fire.

The bush is "beyond the black stump". At least that's what we used to say, and I have seen the stump in question, so it must be true.

_________________
Other setups:
SDC Custom Blade/Butterfly Dignics 80/Butterfly Glayzer
BTY Viscaria/Tibhar K3/Tibhar K3

Goodness.. I'd heard that stations were huge, but I didn't know they were THAT big. So in other words the "outback" is anything outside the major conurbations... There certainly seems to be quite a bit of romance to it, and to the people who inhabit it. Swagmen, drovers, etc.

I first heard this song done by Irish singer-songwriter Christy Moore. Thanks to YouTube, I found it was written by Hugh McDonald (passed away in 2016) of the band Redgum. Here's the Redgum version.



In another video on YouTube he admits the story about meeting the old drover on the train was "complete frogshit". The Diamantina, it turns out, is an inland river - it drains into a land-locked depression. Parts of the river system are intermittent, depending on the rainfall, which varies greatly from year to year. And yes, they graze livestock there.

Another recording (by John Williamson) - this one has lots of old photos.



You should look up Christy Moore's version, too.

It's interesting that the Ironbark, the Coolibah and the Redgum are all varieties of eucalyptus. Must grow everywhere..

Iskandar

And the bush girl. I only came across this last week. (Apparently they have telethons in Australia too... )



Slip rails... ? Where you tie up the horses? Or would they be what they call a spur line in the US? Or a siding?

The faith that grows firmer from watching in vain
She'll wait by the slip rails for you..

Iskandar