Oxeborough Banks (Maids of Australia)

DESCRIPTION: The singer settles under a tree to watch the girls bathe. One catches his eye -- and he hers. She calls him to rescue her from sinking. (He then "entered the bush of Australia.") Nine months later she bears a son whose dad "nowhere could be found"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (recording, Harry Cox)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction pregnancy abandonment river sex
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England(Lond)) Canada(Newf) US(SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Fahey-Eureka-SongsThatMadeAustralia, pp. 44-45, "Maids of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal-OldBushSongs-CentenaryEdition, pp. 269-270, "Maids of Australia" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 276-277, "The Gay Maid of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 183, "The Maid of Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon-WhorehouseBellsWereRinging 27, pp. 163-166, "The Banks of My Native Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1872
RECORDINGS:
Everett Bennett, "The Gay Maid of Australia" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Harry Cox, "The Maid of Australia" (on FSB02, FSB2CD)
Unidentified Mississippi singers "The Fair Maids of Australia" (AFS 15014 A3, 1930s)
NOTES [13 words]: The Hawkesbury River reaches the sea north of Sydney at Broken Bay, NSW. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: FaE044

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