Pits and Pieces
from Warren Fahey's Collecting Swag


Warren Fahey has been collecting, researching and performing Australian bush songs for many years. He has toured extensively both solo and with his pioneering group The Larrikins. He also plays English concertina. Warren has made several recordings and has published eleven books on various aspects of Australian folklore.





The Kelly Gang

Ned Kelly is back on the board now that Peter Carey's wonderful book has found a wide audience and, of course, there's another feature film around the corner. I have collected several Kelly songs and associated folklore including the following song which was sent to me in 1995 by Mr Noel Yarrow of Macgregor, Qld. Mr Yarrow was born in 1933 and recalled how his grandfather sang this most of his life. He wrote down the words in 1956 after his grandfather told him how he had “met Dan Kelly”.

His grandfather told him how he met 'Dan' (or at least a man who claimed to be Dan Kelly) in the 1930s when the man was living in the Ipswich/Fernvale area. “My grandfather firmly believed that the man was Dan Kelly”. I had a similar quote from Swagman Jack Pobar who I recorded in 1974 and he went as far as to describe how Dan had shown him the scars from the fire when he escaped.

Dan Kelly
Dan Kelly
The Kelly Gang

Come all you men with feeling,
With regret I do unfold,
A tale I have to tell of men,
Whose hearts were brave and bold.

Chorus
Sing a song of the Kelly gang bold,
Four men stout and true,
Whose brave exploits will long unfold,
For all the world to see.

The odds against the Kelly gang
Were fifty-to-one or more,
And yet was shown no courage
For they had to face but four

Long live loyal Kate Kelly,
For she was a noble girl.
And did appear upon the scene
In spite of all the world

Tis true she loved both Ned and Dan
And also Steve and Joe
For she did prove to one and all
Her heart was fair and true

If any praise is due at all
Then let the praise be made
To those four brave unfortunates
Who now lie in their graves.

A different version (also without the chorus) was collected by John Meredith from Tom Gibbons of Gulgong in 1956, which, oddly enough was sung to him the year Noel Yarrow's father died.


This webpage © 2002 Simply Australia