Joe Wilson and His Mates

The Author’s Farewell to the Bushmen

Some carry their swags in the Great North-West
 Where the bravest battle and die,
And a few have gone to their last long rest,
 And a few have said “Good-bye!”
 The coast grows dim, and it may be long
 Ere the Gums again I see;
So I put my soul in a farewell song
 To the chaps who barracked for me.

Their days are hard at the best of times,
 And their dreams are dreams of care—
God bless them all for their big soft hearts,
 And the brave, brave grins they wear!
God keep me straight as a man can go,
 And true as a man may be!
For the sake of the hearts that were always so,
 Of the men who had faith in me!

And a ship-side word I would say, you chaps
 Of the blood of the Don’t-give-in!
The world will call it a boast, perhaps—
 But I’ll win, if a man can win!
And not for gold nor the world’s applause—
 Though ways to the end they be—
I’ll win, if a man might win, because
 Of the men who believed in me.

---

CONTENTS
JOE WILSON AND HIS MATES
The Author’s Farewell to the Bushmen.
Part I.
Joe Wilson’s Courtship.
Brighten’s Sister-In-Law.
‘Water Them Geraniums’.
I. A Lonely Track.
II. ‘Past Carin’’.
A Double Buggy at Lahey’s Creek.
I. Spuds, and a Woman’s Obstinacy.
II. Joe Wilson’s Luck.
III. The Ghost of Mary’s Sacrifice.
IV. The Buggy Comes Home.
The Writer Wants to Say a Word.
Part II.
The Golden Graveyard.
The Chinaman’s Ghost.
The Loaded Dog.
Poisonous Jimmy Gets Left.
I. Dave Regan’s Yarn.
II. Told by One of the Other Drovers.
The Ghostly Door.
A Wild Irishman.
The Babies in the Bush.
A Bush Dance.
The Buck-Jumper.
Jimmy Grimshaw’s Wooing.
At Dead Dingo.
Telling Mrs Baker.
A Hero in Dingo-Scrubs.
The Little World Left Behind.
The Never-Never Country.