“The Wild Colonial Boy”

Description

Transported from Ireland to Australia, (Jack Doolan) turns bushranger but robs only the rich. At last intercepted by troopers Kelly, Davis, and Fitzroy, he chooses to fight rather than surrender. He kills Kelly but is in turn shot by the other two

Notes

Philips Barry connects this song to the career of a Jack Dowling who was a bushranger in the 1870s. John Greenway, however, believes that Jack Doolan/Dolan/Duggan was an improved version of the historical Jack Donahue. He based this on the fact that two share initials, they were credited with many of the same feats in popular imagination, they shared similar fates, and the two ballads sometimes exchange tunes and choruses. Compare, however, Cazden et al. - RBW

Another candidate from Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 8" - 1.3.03: "It has been suggested that the story is based on the life of one John Donaghue, a Dublin man who was transported for life in 1825, and who was killed by troopers in 1830." - BS

Harry Nunn, in _Bushrangers: A Pictorial History_ in fact reports (p. 76) that the song "_Bold John Donoghue_ sung in the early 1830s glamorised his fictional deeds an heroic death. It was banned only to re-emerge, with minor variations, as ['The Wild Colonial Boy

]."

Given that this song is so widespread, though, I almost suspect that this song PRECEDES "Jack Donahue," and that the Australian song of that name is a conflation of this with the native Australian ballad referred to herein as "Bold Jack Donahoe."

In addition, though Laws does not list a broadside publication, one suspects that this piece began life in print, as the names of the troopers who killed Doolan almost never show variants.

In my personal library, as of this writing, I find twelve substantial texts of this song from verified sources. Seven of these do not give an intermal date for the song; of the five that do, three list (18)61, one 1862, and one (18)65. I suspect that this is, however, an error for the convict's age of "sixteen years."

One small point regarding the date: The troopers are said to have been mounted, and Australia didn't get a mounted police force until 1825. Even then, it was only 13 troopers; it didn't grow to as many as 150 men until 1839 -- by which time transportation to New South Wales was effectively ended.

Robert Hughes, who prints a version he took down in 1958 (_The Fatal Shore_, p. 242) says that "there used to be as may ways of singing 'The Wild Colonial Boy' as there were pianos in Australian parlors" -- which, in context, strikes me as an underestimate.

It's interesting to note that both Jack Doolan and the troopers who shot him have Irish names. _The Oxford Companion to Irish History_ notes that the Irish represented about a quarter of the migrants to Australia -- and that they were over-represented among both the convicts and the police. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Jack Donahue" [Laws L22]

Recordings

• Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (on Voice08)
• John Greenway, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (on JGreenway01)
• A. L. Lloyd, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (on Lloyd4, Lloyd10)

References

1. Laws L20, "The Wild Colonial Boy"
2. Meredith/Anderson, pp. 72, 124, 148-149, 255, "The Wild Colonial Boy"; p. 152, "Jack Dowling"; pp. 185-186, "John Doolan" (5 texts, 6 tunes)
3. Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 72-74, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
4. Friedman, p. 374, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
5. FSCatskills 113, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
6. Gardner/Chickering 133, "The Wild Colloina Boy" (2 texts, 1 tune)
7. Flanders/Brown, pp. 130-131, "Jack Dolden" (1 text, 1 tune)
8. Leach-Labrador 54, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
9. Mackenzie 128, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
10. Ives-DullCare, pp. 77-78,257, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
11. Manny/Wilson 99, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
12. Hodgart, p. 229, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
13. Beck 90, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
14. SHenry H750, pp. 120-121, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
15. Manifold-PASB, pp. 52-54, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
16. Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 134-135, 299-300, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
17. PBB 97, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
18. Fahey-Eureka, pp. 80-81, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
19. Darling-NAS, pp. 110-111, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
20. Silber-FSWB, p. 201, "The Wild Colonial Boy" (1 text)
21. DT 427, COLONBOY* COLONBY2*
22. Roud #677
23. BI, LL20