The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #25798   Message #4124279
Posted By: GerryM
26-Oct-21 - 08:03 PM
Thread Name: Halloween Songs [2]
Subject: RE: Halloween Songs
Where the Dead Men Lie
Barcroft Boake

The full poem can be found in the Australia/NZ Songbook thread. Here's the first stanza:

Out on the wastes of the Never Never -
That's where the dead men lie!
There where the heat-waves dance forever -
That's where the dead men lie!
That's where the Earth's loved sons are keeping
Endless tryst: not the west wind sweeping
Feverish pinions can wake their sleeping -
Out where the dead men lie!

For my money, the best tune is one Margaret Bradford wrote, but I can't find that on the web. Here are a couple of other musical settings:

Queensland Tiger
Richard Glover