“The Stringybark Cockatoo”
Description
"I'm a broke alluvial miiner who's been using his cup to drain." With no other means of support, the miner goes to work for a "stringybark cockatoo." The work is dull and the master poor, cheap, and hard to work with
Notes
A "Cockatoo," or "Cockie," is a farmer whose land is so poor that it can raise little but cockatoos. Stringybark (for which see "Stringybark") was also considered a sign of very poor land.
This song has so many similarities to "The Cockies of Bungaree" that I have to suspect literary dependence. The "Bungaree" text is the more popular, and hence perhaps more likely to be original, but I can offer no absolute proof of this. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "The Cockies of Bungaree" (plot, lyrics)
References
- Manifold-PASB, pp. 100-102, "The Stringybark Cockatoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 281-283, "The Stringybark Cockatoo" (1 text)
- BI, PASB100