Songs of Australia

The original 2011 collection Old and Not So Old Bush Songs began as a means of tidying my own repertoire, gained from exploring and performing for over
forty years. More and more good songs were discovered and added, and poems that needed a tune were worked in. The result is over 300 songs.

Where possible I have credited the sources of the songs and melodies, but please don’t hesitate to edify me about omissions or errors.

Arrangements of the better known songs are based on what I learnt at the Bush Music Club, and from an extensive personal library of Australian folk records and folklore and folk music publications. 

I encourage you to adapt these arrangements to suit your own needs. The songs have generally been pitched for a deeper vocal range. If a particular song is needed in another key it can be easily transposed using a software program that recognises and uses ABC music coding, such as abcExplorer and abcEdit. They can be downloaded from the following list either as PDF files or as versatile ABC files.

Heartfelt thanks are due to the many friends who have sustained my enthusiasm for this volume with their support for the previous edition, the main source book for our monthly Bush Traditions session at the Goulburn Club. Acknowledgement to the many individual contributors is made on the relevant pages.

Phyl Lobl, as she tried to educate the Arts Council of Australia about folk songs, offered this amusing characteristic: “everyone else sings the wrong version.” These then are my wrong versions; a unique collection of Australian songs ranging from colonial times to the present. Some great classics, and many that I trust will become better known.

October 2019

This collection is not offered for sale for profit. In the spirit of folk music it has been prepared for sharing, as have my previous publications. You are welcome to copy the work in part or in full for your own use, preferably with acknowledgement.

Select any file and it will be displayed onscreen with the options.
to download it as a midi file,
to download it as an abc file or 
to download or print it as a PDF file

A - L

Across the Warrego

Adventures of Jack O'Donohoe, The

Albury Ram, The

All A-Cheatin'

All For Me Grog

And When They Dance

Andy's Gone With Cattle

Another Fall of Rain

Answer's Ireland, The

Artesian Water

Assisted Passage

Augathella Station

Australia's on the Wallaby

Ballad of 1891, The

Ballad of Ben Hall's Gang, The

Ballad of Eureka, The

Ballad of Jack Lefroy, The

Ballad of Norman Brown, The

Ballad of the Kelly Gang, The

Banks of the Condamine, The

Bare Legged Kate

Battle of Castle Hill, The

Battle of the Somme, The

Battler's Ballad, The

Beechworth Shearer's Song, A

Ben Hall

Big Ben Pie

Big Gun Shearer, The

Big Poll the Grogseller

Bill Jinks

Bill the Bullocky

Billy Barlow in Australia

Billy Hughes Army

Billy of Tea

Billygoat Overland

Binda Ball, The

Biralla Station Ball

Black Billy Tea

Black Velvet Band, The

Blacksmith's Song, The

Bluey Brink

Bold and Reckless Gardiner

Bold Ben Hall

Bold Jack Donahue

Bold Jack Donahue Lament

Bonnie Jess

Boozin', Jolly Well Boozin'

Botany Bay

Botany Bay Courtship, A

Bound For Australia

Boundary Rider, The

Braidwood Coach, The

Break O' Day

Brewer's Glee, The

Bringing Home the Cows

Broken-Down Squatter, The

Bullockies Ball, The

Bullocky-O

Bulls of the Speewah, The

Burke's Dream

Bush Night

Bushman's Farewell, The

Bushman, The

Cabbage Tree Hat, The

Callaghan's Hotel

Cane Killed Abel

Canecutter's Lament, The

Catalpa, The

Charlie Mopps

Click Go The Shears

Coal Owners' Song, The

Cobb and Co

Cockies of Bungaree I, The

Cockies of Bungaree II, The

Codfish Shanty, The

Colonial Widow, The

Convict Maid, The

Convict's Wedding, The

Cove What Drives, The

Cradle Song

Cross of the South, The

Cuppacumalonga

Cuttin' A Monkey

Cyprus Brig, The

Cyprus, The

Dan McCartey

Dead Horse Shanty, The

Death of Ben Hall, The

Death of Ned Kelly, The

Denis O'Reilly

Digger's Lament, A

Diggers Quadrilles, The

Diggins-Oh, The

Dinky Di

Do You Think I Do Not Know

Dogs' Meeting, The

Dole Bread

Down by the Sydney Side

Drifting Down the Darling

Drover's Dream, The

Drover's Life, A

Drover, The

Duke's Song

Dust in the Sun

Dying Stockman, The

Early Sheds, The

Eight Bells

Eight Hour Day, The

Euabalong Ball

Eumerella Shore, The

Eureka Lead

Exile of Erin, An

Farewell to Anzac

Fifty-Six-O-Three

Five and a Zack

Flash Jack From Gundagai I

Flash Jack From Gundagai II

Flash Stockman, The

Fol a Rol a Roo

Four Little Johnny Cakes

Frank Gardiner

Free Selector's Daughter, The

Freedom on the Wallaby

Garrawilla

Gentle Annie

German Girl, The

Give Me A Hut

Golden Gullies of the Palmer

Good Old Concertina, The

Good Old Time, The

Goorianawa

Goulburn Shearer's Song, A

Great Northern Line, The

Gum Tree Canoe, A

Hard Tack

Haul Away Joe

Holy Dan

Humpin' Old Bluey

Hurrah for the Diggings

Hut That's Upside Down, The

I Hate Smoke

I Was Brought Up In Manchester

I've Just Come From Sydney

If I Were A Blackbird

Immigration

Irish Lords

Jacksons

Jacky Howe

Jim Jones at Botany Bay

Jimmy Shearer

Jindabyne

Jog Along Till Shearing

John Gilbert (Bushranger)

Jolly Puddlers, The

Kitty's Broom

Knitting Song, The

Kookaburra Laughed, The

Lachlan Tigers, The

Lambed Down

Lass from Yackandandah, The

Lazy Harry's

L - Z

Limejuice and Vinegar

Limejuice Tub, The

Little Fish, The

Little Freehold on the Plain

Little Sprig of Wattle, A

Look Out Below!

Maggie May

Man of the Earth

Man with the Concertina, The

Maranoa Drovers, The

Mary of the Murrumbidgee

Maryborough Miner, A

Miner, The

Moreton Bay I

Moreton Bay II

Mulga Bill's Bicycle

Murrumbidgee Shearer, The

Mustering Day

My Little Wet Home in a Trench

My Name is Ben Hall

My Name is Edward Kelly

My Old Black Billy

Nautical Yarn, A

Ned Kelly's Farewell to Greta

New England Cockie, The

Night at Daisy Park, A

Nine Miles From Gundagai

Norfolk Whalers

North by West

Number Twenty-Two

Oh Bedad Then Says I

Old Bark Hut, The

Old Black Alice

Old Bullock Dray I, The

Old Bullock Dray II, The

Old Bush Shanty

Old Country Hall Song, The

Old Dan Tucker

Old Emma, The

Old Ireland Lies Groaning

Old Keg of Rum, The

Old Palmer Song, The

Old Sydney Town

Old Woman

On The Dole

On The Track

On the Wallaby

One of the Has Beens

Outside Track, The

Overlander I, The

Overlander II, The

Paddy Fagan

Paddy Malone

Paddy Moore

Parramatta

Past Carin'

Pickin' Up Spuds

Pig Catcher's Love Song, The

Poet's Coat, The

Pommy's Lament, The

Poor Ned Kelly

Press Gang, The

Pub With No Beer, The

Rabbit Shearing, The

Rabbit Trapper, The

Rabbiter, The

Ramble-eer, The

Randwick Races

Reedy Lagoon, The

Reedy River

River Bend

Roaring Days, The

Ryebuck Shearer

Sandy Hollow Line, The

Send Her Down Hughie

Sergeant Small

Shanty By the Way, The

Shearer's Dream, The

Shearer's Jamboree, The

Shearer's Lament, A

Shearing in a Bar

Sheep-Washer's Lament, The

Shepherding

Shores of Botany Bay, The

Sixteen Thousand Miles From Home

Sleeper Cutters Camp, The

Snowy River Roll

Song and A Sigh, A

Song of Light, A

Song Of The City Stockman, The

Song of the Fettler, The

Songs of Australia

South Australia

Southern Markets

Speewah

Springtime It Brings On The Shearing, The

Squatter's Man, The

Station Cook, The

Station Songs and Droving Ditties

Steam's Up

Stockman's Last Bed, The

Stockmen of Australia, The

Streets of Forbes, The

Strike Song (1917), A

Stringybark and Greenhide

Stringybark Cockatoo, The

Stringybark Creek

Struggle In The West

Sulky Stockman, The

Swaggie Passing Through

Sydney As It Used To Was

Sydney or the Bush

Sydney Town

Sydney Town ed

Talking Dog, The

Tambaroora Gold

Tassie Whaler

Tea and Damper Song, The

Teams, The

Ten Thousand Miles Away

Thirty-Eight-O-One

Thousand Miles Away, A

Three Black Crows, The

Three Crows

Tiger O'Reilly

Tomahawker, The

Tomahawkin' Fred

Transport, The

Travelling Down the Castlereagh

Troop Train Leaves, The

Tumba-Bloody-Rumba

Van Diemen's Land

Wallaby Brigade, The

Wallaby Liz

Wallaby Stew I

Wallaby Stew II

Waltzing Matilda (Cowan Version)

Waltzing Matilda (McPherson Version)

Waltzing Matilda (Queensland Version)

Water Lily, The

Water Witch, The

Way of the World, The

Wee One Lament, The

Western Creeks Are Calling, The

Westward Ho!

What A Life!

When It's Springtime in the Mallee

When Jones' Ale Was New

When Shearing Comes

When Stock Go By

Where The Lazy Murray River Rolls Along

Where's Your Licence?

Widgegoara Joe

Wild Colonial Boy, The

Wild Rover No More

With My Navvy Boots On

With My Swag All On My Shoulder

Wood Turner's Love Song

Woolloomooloo Lair, The

Woolshed Hop, The