Our Own Flag.

[Fouro]

They mustered us with a royal din,
In weariesome weeks of drought,
Ere ever the half of the crops were in
Or the half of the sheds cut out.
Twas down with saddle and spur and whip,
The swagman dropped his swag,
And we hurried us of to an outbound ship,
To fight for the English flag,
The English flag-it is ours in sooth,
We stand by it, wrong or right,
But deep in our hearts is the honest truth,
We fouight for the sake of a fight,
And the English flag may fluitter and wave,
Where the World-wide Oceans toss,
But the flag the Australian dies to save,
Is the flag of the Southern Cross.

Written by Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson, the Bard of the bush.

FOURO.

[j.sabourn]

Another of Banjo"s How Gilbert Died...Theres never a stone at the sleepers head, theres never a fence beside, and the wandering stock on the grave may tread, Un-noticed and un-denied, but the smallest child on the watershed can tell you how Gilbert died.
For he rode at dusk with his comrade Dunn to the hut at the stockmans ford, in the waning light of the sinking sun they peered with a fierce accord. They were outlaws both- and on each mans head was a thousand pounds reward.
Another 13 verses..... JS

[Fouro]

Thought this maybe of interest-
Banjo Paterson's nephew wrote a poem about "The Forgotten War" the Korean Wa,r in which he served as an Infantry Private.
The poem is about leaving Korea, echoing the feelings many Australian, veterans of Korea would carry with them forever.
So here is the poem Private P.J. "Banjo" Paterson, 1 RAR wrote:-
"To the Boys we leave behind us".
SO LONG DIGGER,
We're off to Aussie, Feller,
And we hate to leave you here,
Gawd, we didn't think we'd part like this
When we started out last year.
Remember the march through Sydney,
We were really glad that day
We were "going to Korea",
And it had to end this way.
And the days we spent on the Devonshire,
Our first long voyage ship,
We laughed and joked not dreaming
That this was your "one way trip",
It's still hard to believe it's happened,
That you'll march with us no more,
That youv'e "grounded arms" for ever,
And have fought your last cruel war.
Yes, we're going back to Aussie, Mate,
And we're going to march again,
And will try to make it a better place,
So you wont have died in vain.
And while the band is playing
Our marches, old and new,
We'll swing along there proudly,
Knowing, you are marching too,
Yes, you'll always march beside us,
And when our time is through,
We'll muster on that "Last Parade"
To march again with you.

Hope you have enjoyed reading it.

FOURO.