Wakamarina, The

DESCRIPTION: "On the banks of the Wakamarina... A splendid goldfield's been discovered." The singer is "waiting for fresh information" to know if he should go there. The singer describes the effects of the rush (e.g. high prices) and tells how the new chums struggle
AUTHOR: Words: Charles R. Thatcher (1831-1878)
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (Thatcher's "Songs of the War," according to Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ)
KEYWORDS: gold humorous trick New Zealand
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ, pp. 60-62, "The Wakamarina" (1 text, 1 modern tune)
Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry, p. 53, "Wakamarina" (1 text, 1 modern tune) (p. 31 in the 1972 edition)
Cleveland-NZ-GreatNewZealandSongbook, pp. 50-51, "The Wakamarina" (1 text, 1 modern tune)
Hoskins-GoldfieldBalladeer-LifeAndTimes-Charles-R-Thatcher, pp. 175-176, "The Wakamarina" (1 text, 1 tune)
Anderson-GoldrushSongster, pp. 62-3, "The Wakamarina" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: J. C. Reid, _A Book of New Zealand_ (Collins National Anthologies), Collins, 1964, pp. 64-65, "The Wakamarina" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Tamburlane, "Wakamarina" (on NZSongYngCntry)
NOTES [251 words]: Curiously, although both Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ and Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry give tunes, and both are attributed to Neal Colquhoun, they are not the same tune! They are close, but Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ's transcription is in 6/8, Colquhoun-NZ-Folksongs-SongOfAYoungCountry in 4/4. Cleveland-NZ-GreatNewZealandSongbook gives a third tune; Cleveland claims he wrote it himself. It's in 3/4. This presumably means that none of the printed melodies is that that Charles R. Thatcher used. He tended to set his lyrics to familiar tunes, and this is listed as being sung to "The Twig of the Shannon," which I don't know.
According to Mike Harding, When the Pakeha Sings of Home: A Source Guide to the Folk & Popular Songs of New Zealand, Godwit Press, 1992, p. 5, this is the only Thatcher song to remain continuously in New Zealand tradition, although it is not regarded as traditional in the list on p. 13 of Robert Hoskins, Goldfield Balladeer: The Life and Times of the celebrated Charles R. Thatcher, William Collins (New Zealand), 1977, which lists "Where's Your License?" and "Look Out Below" as Thatcher's two songs that went into tradition. (Of course, those are Australian songs and would not likely have gone into New Zealand tradition; possibly that is the reason for the two different lists.)
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
Last updated in version 6.5
File: BaRo060

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography