Traditional & Folk Songs with lyrics & midi music www.traditionalmusic.co.uk 
Bullockies' Ball 
Bullockies' Ball 
The teams were camped along the gully, soon the news flew round about Plans were worked out by Pat Skulley, to give the boys a grand blowout We had an awning of tarpaulin, kegs and casks came quickly rolling Then the boys and girls came strolling, to have a burst at the Bullockies' Ball. 
cho: Oh, my hearty, that was a party Help yourself, free, gratis all Lots of prog and buckets of grog To swig away at the Bullockies' Ball 
First came Flash Joe, but Jimmy was flasher Hopping Billy the one-eyed boss Brisbane Sal and the Derwent Slasher Billy the Bull and Paddy the Hoss Nanny the Rat, the real macassar Brisbane Bess and Mother McCall All came rolling up together, to have a burst at the Bullockies' Ball 
Soon pint pots began to rattle, the cry was "Pass the rum this way!" The boys began to blow their cattle, and the ladies, of course, must have their say Sal said she'd take cheek from no man, down to a dish of hash did stoop She got a smack in the eye with a doughboy, put her sitting in a bucket of
 soup. 
Oh then, boys, there was the ructions, man the tucker and let fly Brisbane Bess with a hunk of damper caught Flash Joe right in the eye Nanny the Rat, the real macassar, with a frying pan a dozen slew He got a clip with a leg of mutton, took a dive in an Irish stew 
There was a wallowman Doughy Rolly Foley, said he's put them to the rout Seized a junk of roly-poly, but a poultice of pigweed stopped his mouth Now, this raised his old woman's dander, into an awful tanter flew "Fair play" cried she to a bleedin' overlander, "You pumpkin-peeling,toe
 rag snob! 
Last Chorus Oh, my hearty, that was a party Help yourself, free, gratis all Blackened eyes and broken noses That wound up the Bullockies' Ball 
This parody of 'Finnegans Wake' was sung to John Meredith by Margaret Parker and her sister Mrs Sprike, who had learned the song from their father, John Brennan. Brennan heard the song while droving in the Gulf Country of northern Queensland. 
Prog is food, waddurang means old woman, and pigweed was boiled up or eaten raw as a green vegetable to prevent 'Barcoo rot' or scurvy. 
MG apr97