Union Songs

Barcaldine in 1891

A song by Jack Mancor©Jack Mancor 2006

- [play]

1891 in Barcaldine was the year of the great shearers' strike
1891 in Barcaldine well they put up one hell of a fight
Well she'll be shore union or she won't be shore at all
We'll stand together proud and tall
In Barcaldine in 1891

Well under a ghost gum the shearers took shade
And there the meetings and movements were made
They made a vow that they'd never be slaves
In Barcaldine in 1891

And the strike went on for many months
There were 500 shearers camped out in the mud
The army came in to protect the scabs and grubs
In Barcaldine in 1891

And the strike was broke and life went on
And they jailed 13 unionists though they did nothing wrong
And out of that strike grew the roots of the Australian Labor Party
Trying to give a voice to the workers of a sunburnt country

And that old ghost gum it's witnessed all of this
The broken hearts and promises and the strength of mateship
That old ghost gum used to witness swaggies and battlers on their way
They know the Australian Labor Party give voice to the disenfranchised
and the down and out
Well you still see battlers pass by today

Now the old ghost gum is dying
And they say maybe it's from crying
Crying salty tears for a hundred years

1891 in Barcaldine was the year of the great shearers' strike
1891 in Barcaldine well they put up one hell of a fight
Well she'll be shore union or she won't be shore at all
We'll stand together proud and tall
In Barcaldine in 1891

Notes

Many thanks to Jack Mancor for permission to add this song to the Union Songs collection.

Visit Jack's website at http://jackmancor.com/

Return to top of page

union songs..........a selection by mark gregory