There's a fresh track 'cross the paddock 
   Through the lightwoods, to the creek, 
An' I notice Billy Craddock 
   An' Maloney do not speak, 
An' The Snag is slyly bitter 
   When remarking things of Bill, 
An' there's quite a foreign glitter 
   On the fellers at the mill. 


Sid M‘Mahon's turned out a dandy 
   With a masher coat an' tie, 
An' the engine-driver, Sandy, 
   Curls his whiskers on the sly: 
All the boys climb into collars 
   An' their tombstone shirts of nights, 
So it naturally follers 
   There's a new girl up at White's. 


She's a charmer from the river, 
   But she steeps the lads in gloom, 
With her blue eyes all a-quiver 
   And her hair like wattle-bloom; 
Though she is bright an' beguilin', 
   An' so lit up, like, with fun 
That the flowers turn to her smilin', 
   Jest es if she was the sun. 


But I wish she'd leave the valley, 
   For the camp is dull to me, 
Now the fellers never rally 
   For the regulation spree, 
An' there's not another joker 
   Gives a tinker's curse for nap., 
Or will take a hand at poker 
   Or at euchre with a chap! 


Ben won't exercise his fiddle 
   'Fore the boilers as he did 
While Bob steps it in the middle, 
   An' we pass the billy-lid. 
Ah! we had some gay old nights there, 
   But the boys now don't agree, 
An' they sling about at White's there, 
   When they've togged up after tea. 


With the gloves we have no battle; 
   Now they sneak away an' moon 
Round with White, discussin' cattle 
   All the Sunday afternoon. 
There's a want of old uprightness, 
   Too, has come upon the push, 
An' a sort of cold politeness 
   Thet's not called for in the bush. 


They're all off, too, in that quarter; 
   Kate goes sev'ral times a week 
Vis'tin' Andy Kelly's daughter, 
   Jimmy's sister, up the creek; 
An' this difference seems a pity, 
   Seein' their chances are so slim - 
While they're running after Kitty, 
   She is running after Jim. 

"Edward Dyson"
The Bulletin, 26 August 1893, p20

Note:
This poem was published in slightly different form in Dyson's poetry collection Rhymes From the Mines and Other Lines.