Van Diemens Land

(**Didgeridoo**) Am F G Am G Come all ye gallant poachers that ramble void of care Am C D F G Am That walked out on a moonlight night with your dog, your gun, your snare C G Am G The hare and the lofty pheasant, you have at your command Am C D F G Am Not thinking on your last career upon Van Diemen's Land F G Am G Poor Thomas Brown from Nenagh Town, Jack Murphy and poor Joe Am C D F G Am Were three determined poachers, as the county well does know C G Am G By the keepers of the land, me boys, one night they were trepanned Am C D F G Am C D Am Am7 Am And for fourteen years transported unto Van Diemen's Land F G Am G The first day that we landed upon that fatal shore Am C D F G Am The planters came around us there might be twenty score C G Am G They ranked us off like horses and they sold us out of hand Am C D F G Am And they yoked us to the plough, brave boys, to plough Van Diemen's Land F G Am G The cottages we live in are built with sods of clay Am C D F G Am We have rotten straw for bedding, but we dare not say them nay C G Am G Our cots we fence with wire and we slumber when we can Am C D F G Am C D Am Am7 Am To keep the wolves and tigers from us in Van Diemen's Land F G Am G Oft times when I do slumber, I have a pleasant dream Am C D F G Am With my sweetheart sitting near me, close by a purling stream C G Am G I am roaming through old Ireland with my true love by the hand Am C D F G Am But awaken, broken hearted, upon Van Diemen's Land F G Am G Oh, if I had a thousand pounds, all laid out in my hand Am C D F G Am I'd give it all for liberty, if that I could command C G Am G Again to Ireland I'd return and I'd be a happy man Am C D F G Am C D Am Am7 Am And I'd bid farewell to poaching and to Van Diemen's Land OUTRO (## fade to end ##) Am