- 'Banjo' Paterson
I'm riding down the Castlereagh,
I'm a station hand
I'm handy with a rope and whip,
handy with a brand
I can ride a rowdy colt or swing an
axe all day
There's no demand for a station hand
along the Castlereagh
Shift, boys,
shift, there isn't the slightest doubt
It's time to make a
move to the stations further out
So I saddled up my
pony and I whistled on my dog
Made for up the
country at the old jig jog
I went to Illawarra where my
brother has a farm
He has to ask his landlord's leave
before he'd raise an arm
The landlord owns the countryside,
man, woman, dog and cat
They haven't the cheek to dare to
speak without they touch their hat
Shift, boys,
shift, there isn't the slightest doubt
The little landlord
god and I would soon have fallen out
Was I to tip my hat to
him? Was I his bloody dog?
So I made for up the
country at the old jig jog
I answered a call for shearing
once along the Marthaga
We shear non-union here, says he,
I'd call that scab, says I
I looked along the shearing-shed
before I turned to go
There were four-and-twenty scabbies
there shearing in a row
Shift, boys,
shift, there isn't the slightest doubt
It's time to make a
move when the leprosy's about
So I saddled up my
pony and I whistled on my dog
Made for up the
country at the old jig jog
It's time that I was travelling,
it's a mighty way to go
Till I drink Artesian water from a
thousand feet below
Till I see the overlander with his
cattle coming down
I'll work a while, make a pile, have
a spree in town
Shift, boys,
shift, there isn't the slightest doubt
It's time that I was
moving to the stations further out
So I saddled up my
pony and I whistled on my dog
Made for up the
country at the old jig jog
(as sung by Hamish Imlach)