I knows the Murrumbidgee's bends,
Though not a "whaler" * now,
And many a score of sheep I've shore
For good old Jacky Dow.
I used to knock about on farms,
And plough a "land" or two;
But now for me that has no charms—
I hates a "Cockatoo." **
* Murrumbidgee whalers are a class of loafers who work for
about six months in the year—i.e. during shearing and
harvest, and camp the rest of the time in bends of rivers,
and live by fishing and begging.
** A small farmer.
I'm splittin' for a squatter now