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As I rovèd out by those raspberry banks
Where the maids of Australia they played their wild pranks,
By a green shady bush I sat myself down
A-viewing the fields and the meadows all 'round.
There I spied a fair maid of Australia,
There I spied a fair maid of Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay.
She stood up before me, she stripped off her clothes,
Her innocent body so white as the snow,
She gazèd all on me and this she did say:
"I hope you won't harm a poor innocent maid,
I'm the daughter of happy Australia,
I'm the daughter of happy Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay."
She jumped in the water without fear or dread,
Her lily-white limbs o'er the water she spread,
Her hair hung in ringlets of color so black,
She said, "Oh kind sir, I can swim on my back
Near the streams of my happy Australia,
Near the streams of my happy Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay."
She being tired of swimming she came to the brink,
"I beg your assistance for fear I will sink."
Like lightning I flew, I caught hold of her hand,
When her foot chanced to slip, we both fell on the sand,
There I entered the bush of Australia,
There I entered the bush of Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay.
After eight months being over and nine coming on
This pretty little young thing she brought forth a son,
His dadda was looked for and could not be found,
You remember the time you fell back on the ground?
Near the streams of your happy Australia,
Near the streams of your happy Australia,
Where the maidens are handsome and gay.
This variant was collected in 1959 from Everett Bennett of St. Paul's, NL, by Kenneth Peacock, and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.276-277, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
