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A fabulous, true story and the defining moment of Australian labor history. There were people involved from 23 nations, actually, but 20 fit better in the chorus. Never trust a songwriter for accuracy of details...

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David Rovics

"If the great Phil Ochs were to rise from the dead today, he would probably be hailed as the new David Rovics." Andy Kershaw, BBC

Song Info

Genre

Acoustic • Acoustic Folk

Charts

Peak #101

Peak in subgenre #5

Uploaded

September 18, 2009

Track Files

MP3

MP3 8.2 MB • 320 kbps • 3:33

Story behind the song

A fabulous, true story and the defining moment of Australian labor history.
There were people involved from 23 nations, actually, but 20 fit better in
the chorus.  Never trust a songwriter for accuracy of details...

Lyrics

From every corner of the world
They came from all around
When in 1851
They struck gold upon the ground
Every voyage was a long one
Months upon the stormy sea
Some to seek their fortune
Others escaping slavery

What they found on the goldfields
Was rule by brutish thugs
Discrimination and taxation
Mixed with swinging billy clubs
The gold was getting scarcer
And cops were getting worse
The diggers burned their licenses
And vowed to end this curse

They swore an oath
Beneath the Southern Cross
That they would stand together
And break the license laws
From twenty different nations
They gathered here as one
In Ballarat
Beneath the southern sun

The crown tried to divide them
Giving preference to some
The diggers wouldn't have it
They said it's all of us or none
They built a stockade
While the Redcoats massed nearby
And they heard the miners shouting
We are ready now to die

The rebel miners waited
For whatever lay in store
And on one December morning
In 1854
The Redcoats attacked the camp
Dozens there would fall
Among these brave gold diggers
Who had risen to the call

Chorus

The Army thought that it was over
And things now would go their way
But when fifteen thousand miners rallied
A month later on the day
The Crown conceded  everything
All of their demands
They'd won an end to license fees
The right to vote and land

So here's to Joe and Charley
Lalor and the rest
They drew the battle lines
And put Crown rule to the test
The diggers may have lost the battle
But they quickly won the day
And those shots fired in Victoria
Were heard ten thousand miles away

Chorus