The Bustard from the Bush

[warooa]

Thanks Heather, thanks Terry . . . and Nev I'm not convinced the original was penned by Henry - did he not have a genuine aversion to swearing?

Cheers, Marty

[Neville Briggs]

One of those mysteries Marty, we might never know.

[Heather]

What makes you think Henry had an aversion to swearing Marty? I've seen a few of his poems (don't ask me to name them) where a word has been blanked out. Usually it was something like "damn". It was a bad, bad word back then.

[warooa]

I read it somewhere recently, Heather - which obviously doesn't mean it's gospel . . . I'm sure most folk here have a greater knowledge of Henry than I, but I don't believe "The Bastard from the Bush" flowed from his pen.

Marty

[r.magnay]

you obviously haven't read the versions I have Heather!...'damn' doesn't even get a mention!

I googled it up and there is many and varied versions, even one bloke is claiming it to be Banjo who wrote it and a couple of others group both Henry and Banjo as responsible for one version or another. Personally I doubt that any of what I read came from either of their pens in it's entirety. One version in particular sounds a bit modern in some of the terms to me....you know, more like a rap "song".....

[Ron]

Hey Marty,
Don't go spoiling a good thing!
The version I know when recited seems to gain a lot more credence when telling people that it is Henry's pub version of 'The Captain of The Push', done for his mates!
I think I have to agree with Neville though, I don't think we will ever really know.

Ron

[Heather]

I can't find it in my two volumes of the complete Henry works.

[Heather]

You could be right Marty.

I have consulted the comprehensive biography of Henry Lawson written by Colin Roderick - page 83.

"His most celebrated portrait was "The Captain of the Push", writen "especially for the tin", the only worthwhile ballad of the larrikin that has survived. It was not as vulgar as the "Bastard of the Bush" with which it has been associated, although only on asserstions made more than thirty years after his death and for which nothing in the shape of evidence has been produced. Court records reveal that Lawson had a vivid vocabulary; but i his writing he avoided obscenities."

Heather

[Bob Pacey]

Musta been a bloody nice guy Like Meeeeee

[Heather]

Only Henry would have said "blankey nice guy". Bobity...... and before you think I made that up, "blankey" is the word he used to substitute for a bad bad word....