Chorus:
Here we are in New South Wales
Shearing sheep as big as whales, with
Leather necks and daggy tails
And fleece as tough as rusty nails.
When shearing comes, lay down your drums
Step to the boards you brand-new chums
With the rattum-rattum-rub-a-dub-dub
We'll send you back on the lime juice tub.
The brand new chums and cappy sons
[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/new-south-wales-lyrics-lloyd.html ]
Fancy they're the greatest guns.
Fancy they can shear the wool
But the beggars can only tear and pull.
Though you live beyond your means
Your daughters wear no crinolines;
Nor are they bothered by boots or shoes
But live wild in the bush with the kangaroos.
Oh it's home I'd like to be
Far from the bush and back country
Sixteen thousand miles I've come
To spend my life as a shearing bum.
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mleigh
The lyric is incorrect. The 'jaggy tails' should be daggy tails, and the hides as tough as rusty nails should be fleece as tough as rusty nails. Sheep tend to have a proble where pellets of faeces (poop) stick to their tails and in in Australia, shearers refer to these as 'dags' hence the daggy tails. And sheep have fleece (wool), not hide. Their skin underneath the wool is actually very soft and tender. (Grew up in Shearing sheds in Australia)