Old Identity, The

DESCRIPTION: "Mr. Cargill in the Council Made such a funny speech... That it devolved on each... To preserve... The Old Identity." Will Cargill demand that the old Scottish immigrants go back to kilts and porridge? Satirizes immigration controls and identity politics
AUTHOR: Words: Charles R. Thatcher (1831-1878)
EARLIEST DATE: 1862 (Thatcher's "Dunedin Songster," according to Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ; Mike Harding, _When the Pakeha Sings of Home: A Source Guide to the Folk & Popular Songs of New Zealand_ specifies that it was Dunedin Songster #3)
KEYWORDS: political New Zealand clothes humorous nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ, pp. 45-46, "The Old Identity" (1 text, tune referenced)
Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry, p. 55, "The Old Identity" (1 text, 1 tune) (p. 33 in the 1972 edition)
Garland-FacesInTheFirelight-NZ, p. 96, "(The Old Identity)" (1 text)
Hoskins-GoldfieldBalladeer-LifeAndTimes-Charles-R-Thatcher, p. 21, "(no title)" (2 excerpts); pp. 150-153, "The Old Identity" (2 texts, different poems but built around the same idea)
Anderson-ColonialMinstrel, p. 133, "(no title)" (1 text, one of Thatcher's revised versions)
ADDITIONAL: Gordon Ell, _Kiwiosities: An A-Z of New Zealand traditions & Folklore_, New Holland Publishers, 2008, pp. 185-186, "The Old Identity" (excerpts of 2 versions of the song)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Duck Leg Dick" (tune)
NOTES [278 words]: According to Ell, Charles R. Thatcher is "credited with originating the expression 'old identity' in a song about Otago provincial elections." Ell, p. 185, says that the phrase "was used to distinguish between the founders of the Otago Settlement and the later comers.... As gold-miners from around the world rushed to Otago, Edward Bowes Cargill (1823-1903) son of the leader of the Otago Settlement, had implored the original settlers to stick together to preserve their identity." Hence Thatcher's piece.
The tune is listed as "Duck Leg Dick."
Hoskins, p. 20, says that this comes from Thatcher's first topical skit upon arriving in New Zealand from Australia. "A by-election had just seen Edward B Cargill returned to the Otago Provincial Council. In electioneering he had deplored the removal of established landmarks, and urged Dunedin settlers 'that, notwithstanding the great influx of rogues and vagabonds [diggers from Victoria] settlers should preserve their 'Old Identity.'" Thatcher -- himself from Britain via Australia although he hadn't come to New Zealand to dig for gold -- had little trouble making fun of ways the early Scots settlers might preserve their "Old Identity."
"If Thatcher ever coined a phrase it was the 'Old Identity.' It immediately became a catchword and was applied by the Victorian immigrants to the more conservative and old-fashioned local settlers" (Hoskins, p. 22). The phrase became popular enough that Thatcher apparently used it in other songs as well.
For brief background on Thatcher's career, see the notes to "Where's Your License?" For an extensive collection of his songs, see Anderson-StoryOfAustralianFolksong. - RBW
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File: BaRo045

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