A softer side of the breaker: WHEN STOCK GO BY (Harry Morant) Tom rode a bonny dark bay nag He wore a battered cabbage-tree And as I filled our water-bag He came and asked a drink from me The cattle passed our hometead gate Beside our well I watched them pass While dad was in a fearful state About his water and his grass Tom said that drink was just like wine He said my eyes were soft and brown He said there were no eyes like mine From Dandaloo to Sydney Town I watched him with a trembling lip Yet little thought I then that he Who asked a drink from me that trip Would next trip ask my dad for me Tom's droving days long since are done The wet tear oft has dimmed my eye For days when I was woo’d and won Come back to me when stock go by Brad Tate put a tune to this little poem: Youtube clip Graham Jenkin also put a tune to it. It can be found at page 74 of his 'Great Australian Balladists'. Both Jenkin and Davies & Ilott omit the second stanza. The final stanza suggests unhappiness in the marriage. At one stage, Breaker Morant was briefly married to Daisy Bates. My mate Colin Smiley from Perth compiled a themed concert relating to the Morant/Bates relationship which was presented at a Top Half Folk Festival and repeated in Perth. There is some info on this interesting relationship here: Breaker and Bates --Stewie.
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