Van Dieman's Land (Trad)
(collated by Ashley Hutchings)
Van Dieman's Land
(trad. arr. Shirley Collins)
Come all you gallant poachers that ramble void of care
That walk out on a moonlight night with your dog, your gun and snare
The harmless hare and pheasant you have at your command
Not thinking of your last career out on Van Diemen's Land
Me and five more went out one night into Squire Duncan's park
To see if we could catch some game, the night it being dark
But to our great misfortune we got dropped on with speed
And they took us off to Warwick gaol which made our hearts to bleed
Then at Warwick assizes at the bar we did appear
And like Job we stood with patience our sentence for to hear
But being old offenders it made our case go hard
And for fourteen long and cruel years we were all sent on board
We had a female comrade, Sue Summers was her name,
And she was given sentence for a-selling of our game.
But the captain fell in love with her and he married her out of hand
And she proved true and kind to us going to Van Diemen's Land.
As I lay on the deck last night a-dreaming of my home
I dreamed I was in Harbouree, the fields and woods among
With my true love beside me and a jug of ale in hand
But I woke quite brokenhearted out in Van Diemen's Land.
So come all you gallant poachers, give ear unto my song
It is a bit of good advice although it be not long
Lay by your dog and snare, to you I do speak plain
If you knew the hardships we endure, you'd never poach again.
Van Diemen's Land was also sung by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band on their 1971 album No Roses. The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in the song title was misspelt as Van Dieman, though. She commented in the sleeve notes:
A 19th century transportation ballad. We had a lengthy discussion about the verse
We had a female comrade, Sue Summers was her name
and she was given sentence for a-selling our game.
Some people say it was “a-playing of the game” and that she was a prostitute, and that's why she'd been convicted. But people were transported for as trivial an offense as stealing a silver spoon or a piece of bread, and it seemed to me more poignant and more appropriate that Sue Summers was transported with the poachers because she had in fact sold their game.
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