Bold Jack Donahue

Come all you gallant bushrangers that gallop on the plain
That's going to live in slavery, or wear the convict chain
Attention pay to what I say, and value it if you do
I will relate the matchless fate of Bold Jack Donahue

Bold Donahue was taken all for a notorious crime
And sentenced to be hanged upon the gallows tree so high
But when they brought him to Bathurst Gaol, he left them in a stew
For when they came to call the roll, they missed Jack Donahue

When Donahue made his escape, to the bush he went straight way
The squatters they were all afraid to travel by night and day
And every day in the newspapers, they brought out something new
Concerning that bold bushranger they called Jack Donahue

As he and his companions rode out one afternoon
Not thinking that the pains of death would overtake him soon
To their surprise the horse police well on they came in view
And in double quick time they did advance to take Jack Donahue

“Oh Donahue, Donahue, throw down your carabine
Or do you intend to fight us all and will you not resign?”
“To surrender to such cowardly dogs is a thing I never would do
This day I'll fight with all me might”, says Bold Jack Donahue

“It never shall be said of me that Donahue the brave
Surrendered to a policeman or became an Englishman's slave
I'd rather roam the bush so wide like a dingo or kangaroo
Than work one day for the government,” says Bold Jack Donahue

The sergeant and the corporal, they did their men divide
Some fired at him from behind and some from every side
The sergeant and the corporal, they both fired at him too
And a rifle bullet pierced the heart of Bold Jack Donahue

Nine rounds he fired and nine men shot before that fatal ball
That pierced his heart and made him smart and caused him for to fall
And as he closed his mournful eyes, he bid the world adieu
Saying, “Convicts all, pray for the soul of Bold Jack Donahue.”