Springtime It Brings on the Shearing, The (On the Wallaby Track)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the springtime it brings on the shearing, And it's then you will see them in droves...." The singer describes the life of the shearer: Hard at work in season; rambling the rest of the year and "making johnny-cakes round in the bend"
AUTHOR: from the poem "On the Wallaby Track" by E.J. Overbury
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (publication of the Overbury version, according to Gwenda Beed Davey and Graham Seal, _A Guide to Australian Folklore_, Kangaroo Press, 2003, p. 239)
KEYWORDS: sheep work Australia rambling
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Meredith/Anderson-FolkSongsOfAustralia, p. 186, "The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing" (1 text, 1 tune); probably also pp. 259-260, "The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing" (1 text, 1 tune, but in a very sorry state of repair)
Fahey-Eureka-SongsThatMadeAustralia, pp. 130-131, "The Springtime It Brings On the Shearing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal-OldBushSongs-CentenaryEdition, pp. 185-186, "(The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing" (1 excerpt, filed under "The Flash Sydney Shearers")
Stewart/Keesing-FavoriteAustralianBallads, p. 55, "The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing" (1 short text)
DT, SPRNGSHR*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Flash Sydney Shearers" (form)
NOTES [59 words]: According to Gwenda Beed Davey and Graham Seal, A Guide to Australian Folklore, Kangaroo Press, 2003, p. 264, "To 'go on the wallaby' or 'on the wallaby track' was a colonial phrase for taking to the road in the manner of a swagman, usually in search of work."
E. J. Overbury was also responsible for the original words of "The Shanty by the Way." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: MA186

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