Botany Bay

Posted on April 5, 2013 by tokeefe

{loadposition BotanyBay}

Chorus:

Farewell to your bricks and mortar 

Farewell to your dirty lime 

Farewell to your gangway and to your gang plank

To heck with your overtime 

For the good ship Ragamuffin 

Is lying at the quay 

For to take old Pat with a shovel on his back 

To the shores of Botany Bay

I went down to the harbor, where the big ship at anchor lays

To command a gang of navvys

I was told to engage I stopped for a bit to take a bite before I went away 

For to take a trip on an emigrant ship

To the shores of Botany Bay –

Chorus

The boss came up this morning

He says “Well, Pat you know, 

If you didn’t get your navvys out

I’m afraid you’ll have to go”

So I asked him for my wages I demanded all my pay 

And I told him straight I was going to emigrate

To the shores of Botany Bay –

Chorus

And when I reach Australia I’ll go and I’ll look for gold 

There’s plenty there for digging up

Or so I have been told 

Or else I’ll go back to my trade

Eight hundred bricks I’ll lay

And eight bob I’ll lift for an eight-hour shift

On the shores of Botany Bay –

Chorus

Note — a navvy , (rhymes with savvy), is British slang for a construction laborer;

a quay, (pronounced kay) is a docking place for a ship;

Botany Bay is a harbor in Australia;

a bob is slang for a British Shilling, worth about 10 cents.