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The Banks of the Condamine
(On) The Banks of the Condamine
This song was first published as The Banks of the Riverine in The Queenslander in 1894. Folklorist Dr Edgar Waters writes (Australian Tradition, October 1966):
The Banks of the Condamine seems to have been one of the most widely distributed bush songs. In recent years it has been reported from singers in northern Victoria and the Northern Territory, and a number of different versions have been recorded in New South Wales and in Queensland. Sometimes the man is going off to a horse-breaking camp rather than a shearing shed. In Victoria, and at least in southern New South Wales, it seems to have been known as The Banks of the Riverine, and perhaps this was the original form. The words of The Banks of the Condamine were made over from Banks of the Nile, a British ballad of the beginning of the nineteenth century.
A.L. Lloyd sang this song in the 1950’s on his 78rpm record Bold Jack Donahue / The Banks of the Condamine, on the Riverside LP Australian Bush Songs, and on the Wattle album The Banks of the Condamine and Other Bush Songs. Like all tracks of this album, the latter recording was reissued in 1960 on the Topic LP Outback Ballads.
Brian Mooney, Glen Tomasetti and/or Martyn Wyndham-Read sang The Banks of the Condamine in 1965 on their Australian album Will Ye Go Lassie Go?. The album label credits this to Palmer / Sutherland similar to the Sydney New Theatre’s Reedy River Song Book which states “words collected by Vance Palmer, music restored by Margaret Sutherland”.
Trevor Lucas first recorded On the Banks of the Condamine on his 1966 album Overlander. He also sang On the Banks of the Condamine unaccompanied in 1971 on A.L.Lloyd’s album The Great Australian Legend, but with quite different verses. A.L. Lloyd wrote in the latter album’s notes:
Throughout the fifty years from 1820 to 1870, broadside printers in London, Newcastle, Dublin and elsewhere did a good trade with the stall-ballad called Banks of the Nile, a song from the Napoleonic Wars. The song spread to America and Australia, and in Queensland it became parodied as The Banks of the Condamine, with the hero no longer a soldier but a horsebreaker or a shearer. It has turned up in sundry shapes, to various tunes, many times over, mostly in Queensland. Our version, however, is mainly from Jack Lyons of Dubbo, N.S.W. In Ireland the tune is also used for another song, Mary Griffin.
and in the accompanying booklet:
“In the interior of New South Wales is a famine of females. Both sides of the Barwon River the three hundred miles are occupied by sheep and cattle stations and there is not one white woman in the whole distance. These creatures are as rare as back swans in Europe.” So said a voice from far country in the middle of the last century. Folk songs about work are common in Australia, folk songs about love are astonishingly scarce. The Banks of the Condamine is perhaps the best known of this rare species.
Trevor Lucas and Sandy Denny’s group Fotheringay’s arrangement of Banks of the Nile is probably based on this earlier version, as the tune differs slightly from that used by other UK folk acts, e.g. the Young Tradition.
Martyn Wyndham-Read and Maggie Goodall sang The Banks of the Condamine in 1986 on Wyndham-Read’s LP Across the Line. They were accompanied by Martin Carthy on acoustic guitar, John Kirkpatrick on concertina and Phil Beer on fiddle.
James Fagan and Nancy Kerr sang The Banks of the Condamine on the “Australian” CD of Fellside’s 2003 celebration of English traditional songs and their Australian variants, Song Links (Nancy Kerr and James Fagan also sang The Banks of the Nile on the “English” CD). Paul Adams noted:
It is hardly necessary to say that this is a re-working of The Banks of the Nile, but it may be worth commenting that (like Across the Western Ocean ) it shows how little rewriting can sometimes fit a song to a completely different set of circumstances. The version used here, naming a river in southern Queensland, has become well known since its publication in the 1950s in a series of broadsides called “Bandicoot Ballads”: texts and tunes put together by the poet John Manifold, illustrated and printed by Ron Edwards. Manifold tended to be secretive about the sources of his texts and tunes, and there is no guarantee that the song was ever current in the oral tradition in just this form. Other forms of the song, dealing with horse breaking rather than shearing, have been imperfectly reported from the cattle country of northern Queensland and the Northern Territory. The song has often been recorded by collectors in New South Wales and Victoria, often under the title The Banks of the Riverine: poetic licence for the Riverina district of south-western New South Wales.
Lyrics
A.L. Lloyd sings The Banks of the Condamine on The Banks of the Condamine and Other Bush Songs
Hark, hark, the dogs are barking, I can no longer stay.
The boys have all gone shearing, I heard the publican say.
And I must be off in the morning, love, before the sun do shine
To meet the Roma shearers on the banks of the Condamine.
O Willie, dearest Willie, don’t leave me here to mourn.
Don’t make me curse and rue the day that ever I was born.
For parting with you, Willie, is like parting with my life.
So stay and be a selector, love and I will be your wife.
O Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know that I must go.
The squatters are expecting me their shearing for to do.
And when I’m on the board, my love, I’ll think of you with pride
And my shears they will go freely when I’m on the whipping side.
O I’ll cut off my yellow hair and go along with you,
I’ll dress myself in men’s attire and be a shearer too.
I’ll cook and count your tally, love, whilst ringer-o you shine
And I’ll wash your greasy moleskins on the banks of the Condamine.
O Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know you cannot go.
The boss has given his orders no woman may do so.
And your delicate constitution isn’t equal unto mine
To eat that ram-stag mutton on the banks of the Condamine.
But when the shearing’s over I’ll make of you my wife.
I’ll get a boundary riding job and settle down for life.
And when the days’ work’s done, my love, and the evening it is fine
I’ll tell of them sandy cobblers on the banks of the Condamine.
Trevor Lucas sings On the Banks of the Condamine on Overlander
“O hark! The dogs are barking now, I can no longer stay.
The men have all gone mustering and it is nearly day.
And I must be off in the morning, love, before the sun does shine,
To meet the Sydney shearers on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Willie, dearest Willie, o let me go with you.
I’ll cut off all of my auburn fringes and I’ll be a shearer too.
And I’ll help you count your tally, love, while ringer-o you shine
And I’ll wash your greasy moleskins on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know you cannot go,
The boss has given his orders, love, no woman shall do so.
And your delicate constitution isn’t equal unto mine
To stand that constant tigering on the banks of the Condamine.
“O Willie, dearest Willie, then stay at home with me.
We’ll take up a selection, love, and a farmer’s wife I’ll be.
And I’ll help you husk the corn, my love, and I’ll cook your meals so fine,
You’ll forget that ram-stag mutton on the banks of the Condamine.
“O Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know I cannot stay,
The men have all gone mustering, I heard the publican say.
So here’s a goodbye kiss, my love, to homeward I’ll incline,
When we’ve shorn the last of the jumbucks on the banks of the Condamine.”
Trevor Lucas sings On the Banks of the Condamine on The Great Australian Legend
“O hark! The dogs are barking, I can no longer stay.
The men have all gone mustering, I heard the publican say.
And I must be off in the morning, love, before the sun does shine,
To meet the contract shearers on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Willie, dearest Willie, don’t leave me here to mourn.
Don’t make be curse and rue the day that ever I was born.
For parting with you, Willie, it’s like parting with my life,
So stay and be a selector, love, and I will be your wife.”
“O Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know that I must go,
Old Halloran is expectin’ me his shearin’ for to do.
But when I’m on the board, my love, I’ll think of you with pride,
And my shears they will go freely when I’m on the whippin’ side.”
“Oh, I’ll cut off my yellow hair and go along with you,
I’ll dress myself in men’s attire and be a shearer too.
I’ll cook and count your tally, love, while ringer-o you shine,
And I’ll wash your greasy moleskins on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Nancy, dearest Nancy, you know that can’t be so,
The boss has given orders, love, no women shall do so.
And your delicate constitution’s not equal unto mine,
To eat the ram-stag mutton on the banks of the Condamine.”
“But when the shearin’s over, love, I’ll make you my wife.
I’ll take up a selection and I’ll settle down for life.
And when the day’s work’s over, love, and the evening’s clear and fine,
I’ll tell of them sandy cobblers on the banks of the Condamine.”
James Fagan and Nancy Kerr sing The Banks of the Condamine
“O hark the dogs are barking, love, I can no longer stay,
The men are all gone mustering and it is nearly day.
And I must be off by morning light before the sun does shine
To meet the Roma shearers on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Willie, dearest Willie, o let me go with you,
I’ll cut off all me auburn fringe and be a shearer too.
I’ll cook and count your tally, love, while ringer-o you shine
And I’ll wash your greasy moleskins on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Nancy, dearest Nancy, with me you cannot go,
The squatters have given orders love no woman should do so.
And your delicate constitution is not equal unto mine
To withstand the constant tigering on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Willie, dearest Willie, then stay at home with me,
We’ll take up a selection and a farmer’s wife I’ll be.
I’ll help you husk the corn love and cook your meals so fine,
You’ll forget the ramstag mutton on the banks of the Condamine.”
“O Nancy, dearest Nancy, pray do not hold me back,
Down there the boys are waiting and I must be on the track.
So here’s a kiss, goodbye love, back home I will incline
When we’ve shore the last of the jumbucks on the banks of the Condamine.”
Acknowledgements
Lyrics transcribed from Trevor Lucas’ singing on Overlander. See also Mark Gregory’s Australian Folk Songs entry.