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Dunn, Gilbert and Ben Hall

Come! all ye lads of loyalty,
     and listen to my tale;
A story of bushranging days,
     I will to you unveil,
'Tis of those gallant heroes,
     God bless them one and all,
And we'll sit and sing "God save the King,
     Dunn, Gilbert, and Ben Hall."

To see the mounted troopers
     Scouring the bush,
Like diggers in the olden times,
     Hasting to a rush.
But those bushranging heroes
     They do deceive them all,
There's one thousand pounds, alive or dead,
     For Dunn, Gilbert, or Ben Hall.

As Ben was riding out one day,
     His trade being rather slack,
By private information
     The troops got on his track,
Saying, "Hall, you are my prisoner,
     Surrender unto me,"
And Ben bolted from his saddle
     And climbed up in a tree.

With rage and disappointment
     The troopers cursed and swore;
They moped and poked about the bush,
     And tracked him o'er and o'er.
They kept the watch till daylight,
     And no Ben could be found.
At length they saw his cabbage-tree
     A-lying on the ground.

Then away goes eight or ten of them,
     Like so many yelping curs,
To capture bold Morgan,
     In his shining boots and spurs;
But the horses, they knocked up at last,
     He cannot captured be;
They turned back from a fruitless chase,
     And Morgan still is free.

The troopers now, in latter days,
     They're only paper men,
Not like the mounted heroes
     We had in thirty-nine.
But a man that's carrying on the road
     Is taken from his dray,
With a pair of bracelets on his wrists,
     He's captured — led away.

So now my song is ended,
     I think I will resign,
We'll toast those gallant heroes
     In a glass of sparkling wine.
We'll give them three times three, my boys,
     We'll toast them one and all,
And we'll sit and sing "Long live the Queen,
     Dunn, Gilbert, and Ben Hall."

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Comments


  • Von Powell Moderators member
    July 26, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    e:mail
    www.grandpapencil.com/austral/intell25.htm

    Thanks for your visit to Old Poetry - the link above might give you some info on the man himself.
    put Ben Hall Bushranger - into your search engine and there are a lot of sites available on Google.

    Best of luck

    gemini - old poetry


  • July 26, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    Gidday mate. I am researching Ben Hall at the moment with Kendra. We would really appreciate some more information on Ben Hall possible especially the last few hours of his life.
    Thank you very much,
    please dont talk to us on chat though


  • July 26, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    I was researching Ben Hall and came across the poem that you have submitted over the internet. If you have any more interesting information on Ben Hall it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You. Kendra and Kate.