Australian Rhyming Poets

This song was first published in Children of the Bush in 1902.

THE SHEARER’S DREAM – Henry Lawson.

‘Oh, I dreamt I shore in a shearin’ shed, and it was a dream of joy,

For every one of the roustabouts was a girl dressed up as a boy

Dressed up like a page in a pantomime, and the prettiest ever seen

They had flaxen hair, they had coal black hair — and every shade between.’

‘There was short, plump girls, there was tall, slim girls, and the handsomest ever seen

They was four-foot-five, they was six-foot high, and every size between.’

‘The shed was cooled by electric fans that was over every chute;

The pens was of polished mahogany, and everything else to suit;

The huts was fixed with spring-mattresses, and the tucker was simply grand,

And every night by the billabong we danced to a German band.’

‘Our pay was the wool on the jumbucks’ backs, so we shore till all was blue —

The sheep was washed afore they was shore (and the rams was scented too);

And we all of us cried when the shed cut out, in spite of the long, hot days,

For every hour them girls waltzed in with whisky and beer on trays

‘There was three of them girls to every chap, and as jealous as they could be

There was three of them girls to every chap, and six of ’em picked on me;

We was draftin’ ’em out for the homeward track and sharin’ ’em round like steam,

When I woke with my head in the blazin’ sun to find ’twas a shearer’s dream.’

‘They had kind grey eyes, they had coal-black eyes, and the grandest ever seen

They had plump pink hands, they had slim white hands, and every shape between.

Published by Nelle