Queensland by Philip Durham Lorimer — While The Billy Boils

Queensland ! thou art a land of pest :From flies and fleas we ne’er can rest,E’en now mosquitoes round me revel ;In fact they are the very devil.Sand flies and hornets just as bad,They nearly drive a fellow mad.The scorpion and the centipede,And stinging ants of every breed,Iguanas, lizards, and poisonous snakes,Deadly fever with the shakes,Bandicoots and thieving rats,Bears, opossums, and native cats,Wallabies and kangaroos,Native dogs and cockatoos,Barcoo spew, rot, and sandy blight.Dingoes howling all the night,As well as hosts of croaking frogs,Curlews, quails and yelling dogs.Carpentaria alligators and crocodileCause one to fear, dispel a smile :Kanakas, Chinese, and murderous Blacks,Frightful roads and outlandish tracks,Spinifex and desert sandy,Horrid rum and wretched brandy,Bad tobacco and ad valorem,These troubles — who could e’er get o’er ’em ?”