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Spoken:
This next song I got out at a time in Newfoundland,
But I think it was first brought to light by the McNulty Family,
About twenty or thirty years ago —
A song called Far Away In Australia.
Oh, far away in Australia,
Soon will fate be kind;
And I will be ready to welcome at last,
The girl I left behind.
"Oh, sweetheart, this time I must bid you goodbye,"
Murmured the youth one day;
"I'm off to a new land, my fortune to try,
And I'm ready to sail away."
"Oh, must you depart now," the fair one did cry,
"I cannot let you go."
"Oh, yes, I must leave you," he gently replied,
"But just for a while or so."
And it's far away in Australia,
Soon will fate be kind;
And I will be ready to welcome at last,
The girl I left behind.
Oh, sadly she waits at the old cottage gate,
Waiting the whole day through;
Until a message comes over the wire,
And she's hoping these words are true.
"Oh, it's been successful and fair, love,
I will be always true;
And while I stay in this land far away,
I'll be building a home for you."
And it's far away in Australia,
Soon will fate be kind;
And I will be ready to welcome at last,
The girl I left behind.
Play it again!
And it's far away in Australia,
Soon will fate be kind;
And I will be ready to welcome at last,
The girl I left behind.
In Free Wind Home, A Childhood Memory (1935-1948) Gary Saunders of Clarkes Head, Gander, NL, wrote: "After the war.... we listened to music too, mostly Irish Groups like the McNulty Family from VOCM out of St. John's. By age nine or ten I knew such ballads as Far Away In Australia and The Wild Colonial Boy by heart." — Breakwater Books Ltd, St. John's, NL, ©2007 by Gary Saunders.
The YouTube video above features a recording of a live performance by Ryan's Fancy (Ryan's Fancy Live, trk#9, 1975, Audat Records, Oshawa, ON, recorded live at Audio Atlantic, Halifax, NS).
See more songs by Ryan's Fancy.
A variant was arranged and recorded by Ray Johnson of Job's Cove, Conception Bay, NL (Ray Johnson At The Newfoundlander, trk#6; 1972, Audat Records, Oshawa, ON, from the Newfoundlander Club in Halifax, recorded at Audio Atlantic, Halifax, NS).
The YouTube video below features a variant arranged and recorded by Harry Hibbs (More Harry Hibbs At The Caribou, trk#6, 1968, Arc Sound Ltd., Toronto, ON; remastered and released in 2002 by Unidisc Studios, Montreal, QC).
See more songs by Harry Hibbs.
