Hi all,

Thank to everyone for your interest and help. Thanks to TROVE I found the the older version as published in 1893. That site and search engine is a brilliant and I've been using it this morning so search for old Bush Songs with a lot of success. I'll start a new thread to demonstrate some of what I have found.

Fergus Russell

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ON THE BANKS OF THE REEDY LAGOON.

The bloom of the wattle sheds perfume around,
Enticing the bird and the bee ;
I lie at full length on the fern-covered ground
In the shade of a Kurrajong tree;
And high overhead I can hear a sweet strain —
'Tis the butcher-bird singing a tune,
Spring, in her glory, has come back again
On the banks of the Reedy Lagoon.

My swag l have carried for many a mile,
My boots are worn out at the toes ;
I'm dressing, this season, in different style,
To my dress of last season, God knows!
Away, sad reflections, I mean to be gay
As I was, on that morning in June,
In a Northern bay, on the coast, far away
From the banks of the Reedy Lagoon.

From over the mountain a westerly wind
Is bringing me pure oxygen ;
I sigh for some salmon that's lately been tinned,
Or even the thigh of a hen.
My cooking utensils, I'm sorry to say,
Are lacking a fork and a spoon.
I've dry bread and tea, in a battered jack-shay
On the banks of the Reedy Lagoon.

I think of poor Edgar and Willie the brave,
Together we oft sang a song ;
They're wrapped in the slumber that's found in the grave
Down there In the shades of Toowong.
That dark road I'll travel some day, soon or late,
But if death be tardy or soon,
My probable fate I'll not contemplate
On the bank of the Reedy Lagoon.

I wonder where's Frank? Ah, couldn't he ride !
And Georgie, the kind-hearted boy;
Old Jim, I heard lately has taken a bride
A benedict's life to enjoy.
And Jack, the big Scotchman ; I once heard 'em say,
He wrestled the famous Muldoon :
They're all far away, and I'm lonely to day
On the bank of the Reedy Lagoon.

Oh, where is the woman I often caressed -
The one with the dreamy sad eye;
She rests with her head on another man's breast,
She told me, when saying "Good-bye."
She'd love me and think of me, everywhere ;
The jade has forgotten me soon.
(I didn't keep square.) But it's little I care
On the bank of the Reedy Lagoon.

J.A.C
Redbank Plains.

Source: Queensland Times, Times, Ipswich Herald and General Advertiser, Thu 14 Sep 1893, page 2