The Glenborough Wool
The ramp outside the woolshed door holds yet another load,
So yoke the camel teams once more and take the wagon road.
The shaft is brought, the leaders pull, the wheels creak dismally,
And 60 bales of Glenborough wool roll westward to the sea.
Come spare a thought for the lads outback who shear the Glenborough wool,
In summer heat, all on the boards, with the Wolseleys cutting true.
Our ringer's Tommy Gibson, he's a gun from Northam town,
And he shears his tally every day as the Glenborough wool goes down.
On down the winding, dusty track from dawn to close of day,
the punchers shout, the big whips crack, while straining camels sway.
So morning breaks, then the bright sun wanes till the day, then a week is gone.
With creaking wheels and clinking chains the Glenborough wool rolls on.
Cool nights of rest while camels well and munch the mulga near.
While hobble chains and doleful bells will lull the puncher's ear.
Two more long days from Rocky Pool and then Carnarvon town,
by creek, by hill, by sandy trail, the Glenborough wool goes down.
RECORDINGS:
The Settlers / Bound for Western Australia / Tempo 114 (Australia, 1980s)
The Urban Coyote Bush Band (Spokane-based American band)/ Bound for South
Australia / No. 1989
COPYRIGHT: Sorenson/Ferguson
TERMS AND NOTES: In the days before motorized transport, imported camels
were commonly used to carry wool from the sheep stations (ranches) in
Australia's arid interior to railheads that connected on to the coast.
Northam and Carnarvon are towns in the state of Western Australia.
Boards: the woolshed floor
Gun: a very good shearer
Mulga: a common type of desert shrub
Ringer: the fastest and best shearer in the woolshed
Tally: the number of sheep shorn, or expected to be shorn, by a man in one day
Wolseleys: a brand of hand shears
GM
oct96
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!