Publication: Melbourne Herald
Date: 24 January 1931
Oh, I've ridden 'em rough an' I've ridden 'em kind, Brumbies and prads well-bred. Of every color and every kind - (The old stock-rider said). I've broken the wild Blanchwater colts An' Walers from down Noo South, An' every sort that bucks or bolts, With every sort of mouth. An' I thought I knew the musterin' game Right thro' from A to Z. An' every sort of nag you'd name - (The old stock-rider said). I've wheeled 'em up in the Queensland scrub, An' tailed 'em back o' Bourke, To skite in many an old bush pub I was master of all bush work. But musterin' cattle be aeroplanes? What profit does it bring? An' I don't see how a bushman gains, For it ain't a natiral thing. Soaring' and roarin' an' rampin' round In a rackety tin machine, When a natural horse on natural ground Beats all yer keraseen. I suppose it's progress as they say, But the thing's against all laws. So I'm saddlin' up an' I'm off away Where they ain't got them gee-gaws. For I got no time for aeroplanes; But a prad with a good, kind eye, An' the press o' the knee and the feel of the reins Is my game till I die.