Billy Barlow in Australia

DESCRIPTION: "When I was at home I was down on my luck And I earned a poor living by driving a truck." Billy inherits a thousand pounds, but a merchant sells him a station and he is cheated of the whole inheritance. He returns to Sydney to beg a job
AUTHOR: Benjamin Griffin (source: Gwenda Beed Davey and Graham Seal, _A Guide to Australian Folklore_, Kangaroo Press, 2003, p. 29)
EARLIEST DATE: 1843 (Maitland Mercury and Hunger River General Advertiser; see Patterson/Fahey/Seal)
KEYWORDS: money trick home unemployment
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Anderson-StoryOfAustralianFolksong, pp. 255-257, "Billy Barlow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Anderson-FarewellToOldEngland, pp. 75-178, "Bill Barlow in Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PenguinAustralianSongbook, pp. 34-35, "Billy Barlow in Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal-OldBushSongs-CentenaryEdition, pp. 149-155, "Billy Barlow in Australia" (1 text plus an excerpt)
Stewart/Keesing-FavoriteAustralianBallads, pp. 68-71, "Billy Barlow" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Bill Beatty, _A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales & Traditions_, 1960 (I use the 1969 Walkabout Paperbacks edition), p. 282-285, "Billy Barlow in Australia" (1 text)
Roud #8397
NOTES [62 words]: Obviously not to be confused with the American "Billy Barlow."
I'm far from sure it's a folk song, either. Banjo Paterson published it in "Old Bush Songs," but Paterson is no reliable source -- how many folk songs are there about truck drivers? (Although the "truck" in question appears to be the pre-internal combustion engine sort.) The tune is also of suspect origin. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: PASB034

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