While The Billy BoilsSearchNow come along, ye drover lads,Ye drover lads so gay,For we must take a mob of pradsTo Carpen-tary-a!We'll take across a thousand headAnd tramp it wide and fur,The stock's consigned to Carrotty NedOn Carpen-tary-her!
Chorus:So it's saddle up your horses, blokes,Across the bush we go,Inside a week at Spencer's CreekWe're bound to be, yer know,And the damper ain't too stinkin',And the beef is middlin', soWe'll be 'cross the Queensland borderIn the mor-nin'!
Oh, a drover's life is jolly andA drover's life is free,So it's fill yer glasses with Swanky's brandAnd have a beer with me!For we'll soon be back to Melbourne, whereThe boys can breast the bar,And we all have lots of cash to spareFrom Carpen-tary-ar.
Chorus:So it's saddle up your horses, blokes,Across the bush we go,Where the rippling DiamantinaDoth occasionally flow.There is “posts and rails” and “brownie”For yer breakfast now, yer know,And we're bound to cross the borderIn the mor-nin'.
Now the city coves in Sydney, they'reA cunnin' sort of push;And the songs they write is pretty fairConcernin' of the bush;But you bet your socks and bluchers itWould not appear so gay,If they took a mob of horses outTo Carpen-tary-a!
Chorus:So it's saddle up your horses, blokes,Across the bush we go;We're agoing to where the niggers andThe alligators grow.Where the rum is worse than poisonAnd the snakes are lying low,And we're going to cross the border inThe mor-nin'!