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Cane Cutter's Lament 
Cane Cutter's Lament 
How we suffered grief and pain On the banks of the Barron cutting cane We sweated blood we were as black as sin And the ganger he put the spur right in 
The greasy cook with sore-eyed look And the matter all stuck to his lashes He damned our souls with his half baked rolls And he'd poison the snakes with his hashes 
The first six weeks so help me Christ We lived on cheese and half boiled rice Mouldy bread and cats meat stew And corn beef that the flies had blew 
The cane was bad the cutters were mad The cook had s*** on the liver And I'll never cut cane for that bastard again On the banks of the Barron River 
So now I'm leaving that lousy place I'll cut no more for that bugger He can stand in the mud that's red as blood And cut his own bloody sugar 
Collected by Ron Edwards from Stan Dean (and others) of Cairns, who said it was based on an old hymn. 
Ron Edwards writes "This ballad is known all along the coast and the second line was altered to fit different areas 'On the Isis', 'On the banks of the Herbert' etc." MG apr97