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Frank Gardiner 
Frank Gardiner 
Oh, Frank Gardiner he is caught at last he lies in Sydney jail For wounding Sergeant Middleton and robbing Mudgee mail For plundering of the gold escort, the Carcoar Mail also And it was for gold he made so bold, and not so long ago 
His daring deeds surprised them all throughout the Sydney land And on his friends he gave a call, and quickly raised a band And fortune always favoured him, until the time of late Until Ben Hall and Gilbert met with their dreadful fate 
Young Vane, he has surrendered, Ben Hall's got his death wound And as for Johnny Gilbert, near Binalong was found He was all alone and lost his horse, three troopers came in sight And he fought the three most manfully, got slaughtered in the fight 
Farewell, adieu, to outlawed Frank, he was the poor man's friend The government has secured him, the laws he did offend He boldly stood his trial and him and answered in a breath 'And do what you will, you can but kill; I have no fear of death 
Day after day they remanded him, escorted from the bar Fresh charges brought against him from neighbours near and far And now it is all over; the sentence they have passed All sought to find a verdict, and 'Guilty' 'twas at last 
When lives you take, a warning, boys, a woman never trust She will turn round, I will be bound, Queen's evidence, the first He's doing two-and-thirty years; he's doomed to serve the Crown And well may he say, he cursed the day he met with Mrs Brown 
note: In his Big Book of Australian Folk Song Ron Edwards writes "Frank Gardiner was one of the few bushrangers to live to a comparatively ripe old age. After he had been captured and served ten years of a thirty-two year sentence he was released on condition that he left the country. He went to San Francisco, and for some years ran a saloon there". This version was collected by John Meredith and Nancy Keesing from the singing of Mrs Popplewell. MG 
tune is another Tramps and Hawkers variant RG MG
 apr96