Cirrus@Austlit

There are a number of minor diffences between The Worker version of this work and the version which subsequently appeared in 'Bill Bowyang's' Old Bush Recitations, and the later anthologies. Significantly, in The Worker version, the first verse refers specifically to the departure of the New Australia colonists, which becomes the work's central theme, and thus gives the title a particular significance. However, in 'Bill Bowyang's' version, there is no reference to the New Australia colonists, and the work has a broader theme involving bush workers, bad luck, exploitation, etc.

The first verse of The Worker version is as follows :

Our fathers came to search for gold - the claim has proved a duffer ; / The syndicates and bankers boss the show and make us suffer : / So we're off to try for freedom for ourselves and mates to toil - / We're bound to New Australia and the billy's on the boil.'