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Click go the Shears popular Aussie song  with Tom Roberts' great painting "The Shearing of the Rams" all about work in the shearing sheds

Click go the Shears
[Click here for the music]

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Shearing of the Rams by Tom Roberts
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One of Australia's favourite paintings and  painted by one of our favourite artist - born in England in 1856 arrived in Melbourne with his widowed Mother in  1869 - who else but the one and only
Thomas William Roberts.  The "Shearing of the Rams" is on display in the National Gallery of Victoria.  We love you Tom annimated dancing man

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Chorus sung after each verse
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Click go the shears boys, click, click, click,
Wide is his blow and his hands move quick,
The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow,
And curses the old snagger with the bare-bellied joe.
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Verse 1
Out on the board the old shearer stands,
Grasping his shears in his thin bony hands
Fixed is his gaze on a bare-bellied yoe,
Glory if he gets her, won't he make the ringer go.
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Verse 2
In the middle of the floor in his cane bottomed chair
Sits the boss of the board with his eyes everywhere,
Notes well each fleece as it comes to the screen,
Paying strict attention that it's taken off clean.
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Verse 3
The colonial experience man, he is there of course,
With his shiny legging's on, just got off his horse,
Gazes all around him like a real connoisseur,
Scented soap and brilliantine and smelling like a whore.

Verse 4
The tar-boy is there waiting in demand
With his blackened tar-pot in his tarry hand,
Spies one old sheep with a cut upon its back
Hears what he's waiting for it's "Tar here Jack"
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Verse 5
Now the shearing is all over, we've all got our cheques,
So roll up your swags and it's off down the trace,
The first pub we come to it's there we'll have a spree,
And everyone that comes along it's 'Have a drink on me.'
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Verse 6
There we leave him standing shouting for all hands,
Whilst all around him every 'shouter' stands,
His eye is on the keg which now is lowering fast,
He works hard, he drinks hard, and goes to Hell at last.


Frederick McCubbin

On the Wallaby Track, by Frederick McCubbin.



Another favourite son Frederick McCubbin, born in Melbourne in 1855.  Very briefly he managed the family bakery and attended the National Gallery drawing school and later became the master until his death in 1917.  A very kindly person he was a strong influence on his students. He exhibited in Paris and London.  He had a wonderful gift for depicting the Australian bush.  One of his best work "The Pioneers" a triptych is in the National Gallery of Victoria.

Albert Namatjira
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Across the plane to Mount Giles - painting by Albert Namatjira

Ghost Gum - painting by Albert Namatjira

Portrait of Albert Namatjira



Albert Namatjira (1902-59) - another great favourite and one of our best (if not the best) Australian landscape artist.  He was born on 28th July 1902 near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.  He was a full-blood Aboriginal and a member of the Aranda tribe.  Albert exhibited in Melbourne, Adelaide and most other states.  He is represented in all Australian State galleries and has many admirers both here and overseas.

Because of some  conflicting laws in Australia (both tribal and civil) effecting the treatment of Aboriginals he had a rather sad life. The traditional Aboriginal laws required that he support numerous relatives, and unfortunately the civil law allowed access to alcohol which up until 1957 was not allowed to be purchased by Aboriginals.

He was constantly in debt and he began to drink heavily.  However in spite of this he managed to keep painting until he was moved to Alice Springs Hospital where he died on 8 August in 1959 just 57 years of age.

Sir Hans Heysen

Painting by Hans Heyson - Red Gums of the Far North

Sir Hans Heysen was born in Germany in 1877 and in 1884 he arrived with his family to settle in Adelaide.  Heysen started painting as a boy and later he studied in Paris.  He painted in Italy, England, Scotland and Holland before returning to Adelaide in 1903 where he taught art privately.  He won many awards, his paintings were and still are very popular and he is represented in all Australian State galleries and the British Museum.  He lived on his property near Hahndorf (a very beautiful small German community) in the South Australian hills near Adelaide.  The landscape depicted on the stamp is absolutely typical of some of the country side in Australia.
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