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Bound for South Australia

This shanty has been around in various forms since the 1800s.

Lyrics

In South Australia I was born
Heave away, haul away.
South Australia ‘round Cape Hor
We’re bound for South Australia

Heave away you rolling king
Heave away, haul away.
Heave away oh hear me sing
We’re bound for South Australia

Oh when I sailed across the sea
Heave away, haul away.
My girl said she’d be true to me
We’re bound for South Australia

Heave away you rolling king
Heave away, haul away.
Heave away oh hear me sing
We’re bound for South Australia

But when we next came back from sea
Heave away, haul away.
A soldier had her on his knee
We’re bound for South Australia

Heave away you rolling king
Heave away, haul away.
Heave away oh hear me sing
We’re bound for South Australia

And now we’re on some foreign strand
Heave away, haul away.
With a bottle of whiskey in our hands
We’re bound for South Australia

Heave away you rolling king
Heave away, haul away.
Heave away oh hear me sing
We’re bound for South Australia

And as we wallop ‘round Cape Horn
Heave away, haul away.
You wish to God you’d never been born
We’re bound for South Australia

Heave away you rolling king
Heave away, haul away.
Heave away oh hear me sing
We’re bound for South Australia,

Port Adelaide is a grand old town
Heave away, haul away
There’s plenty of girls to go atound
We’re bound for South Australia

Heave away you rolling king
Heave away, haul away.
Heave away oh hear me sing
We’re bound for South Australia,

Heave away!

Here is a version by the Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends. The words are not exactly the same as the lyrics above.

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The choir is a registered charity

The Ku-ring-gai Male Choir acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past, present and emerging – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.