With pannikins all rusty,
And billy bent and black,
And clothes all torn and dusty,
That scarcely hide his back;
With sun crack'd saddle-leather,
And knotted greenhide rein,
And face burn'd brown with weather,
Our Andy's home again!
His unkempt hair is faded
Through sleeping in the wet;
He's looking old and jaded;
But he is hearty yet.
With eyes sunk in their sockets,
But merry as of yore;
With big cheques in his pockets,
Our Andy's home once more!
With tales of flood and famine,
On distant northern tracts,
And shady yarns, "baal gammon!"
Of dealings with the blacks;
From where the skies hang lazy
Above the northern plain —
From regions dim and hazy
Our Andy's home again!
Old Uncle's bright and cheerful;
He wears a smiling face.
And Aunty's never tearful
Now Andy's round the place.
Old "Blucher" barks for gladness;
He broke his rusty chain,
And leapt in joyous madness
When Andy came again.
His toil is nearly over;
He'll soon enjoy his gains.
Not long he'll be a drover,
And cross the lonely plains.
We'll happy be for ever
When he'll no longer roam,
But by some deep, cool river
Will make us all a home.
This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired.
See Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright (January 2019).
This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was in the public domain in Australia in 1996, and no copyright was registered in the U.S. (This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.)
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1927.
The author died in 1922, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 99 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.