Backblock Shearer, The

DESCRIPTION: "I'm only a backblock shearer, as easily can be seen... I've shorn in most of the famous sheds, I've seen big tallies done, But somehow or other, I don't know why, I never became a gun." The shearer describes his many attempts to make the century
AUTHOR: W. Tully
EARLIEST DATE: 1953 (Collected from Jack Lee by John Meredith)
KEYWORDS: sheep work contest
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Meredith/Tritton-DukeOfTheOutback, p. 95, "Tooraweenah Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson-FolkSongsOfAustralia, pp. 38-39, "The Backblock Shearer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Anderson-StoryOfAustralianFolksong, pp. 179-180, "The Backblocks Shearer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PenguinAustralianSongbook, pp. 128-129, "Widgegoara Joe (The Backblock Shearer)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal-OldBushSongs-CentenaryEdition, pp. 200-202, "The Backblocks Shearer" (1 text)
DT, BACKBLCK
ADDITIONAL: Bill Wannan, _The Australians: Yarns, ballads and legends of the Australian tradition_, 1954 (page references are to the 1988 Penguin edition), p. 62, "Widgeegowera Joe" (1 text)
Bill Beatty, _A Treasury of Australian Folk Tales & Traditions_, 1960 (I use the 1969 Walkabout Paperbacks edition), pp. 294-295, "Widgeegowera Joe" (1 text)
Roud #29042 and 24808
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Castle Gardens" (tune, according to Wannan)
NOTES [17 words]: A "gun" was a high-speed shearer who could shear "the century" (100 sheep) in an eight hour day. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: MA038

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