State+Library+Ned+Kelly+Ballad

Stringybark Creek

This is a ballad about the Kelly gang killing the four police officers in Stringybark Creek. Below this you will find the lyrics and a video of a man singing it. The video may not contain all of the original lyrics but it contains a fair bit of it.

Stringybark (unknown composer) A sergeant and three constables set out from Mansfield towmedia type="youtube" key="LYdBpFJNBdo?fs=1" height="317" width="392" align="right" Near the end of last October for to hunt the Kellys down; They started for the Wombat hills and thought it quite a lark When they camped upon the borders of a creek called Stringybark.

They had grub and ammunition there to last them many a week, And next morning two of them rode out, all to explore the creek, Leaving McIntyre, behind them at the camp to cook the grub And Lonergan to sweep the floor and boss the washing tub.

It was shortly after breakfast Mac thought he heard a noise So gun in hand he sallied out to try to find the cause, But he never saw the Kellys planted safe behind a log So he sauntered back to smoke and yarn and wire into the grog.

But Ned Kelly and his comrades thought they'd like a nearer look For being short of grub they wished to interview the cook; And of firearms and cartridges they found they had too few, So they longed to grab the pistols and the ammunition too.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">Both the troopers at a stump alone they were well pleased to see <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">Watching as the billies boiled to make their pints of tea; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">There they joked and chatted gaily never thinking of alarms <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">Till they heard the fearful cry behind, 'Bail up, throw up your arms

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">The traps they started wildly and Mac then firmly stood <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">While Lonergan made tracks to try and gain the wood, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">Reaching round for his revolver but, before he touched the stock <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">Ned Kelly pulled the trigger and he dropped him like a rock.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">Then after searching McIntyre all through the camp they went <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">And cleared the guns and cartridges and pistols from the tent, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">But brave Kelly muttered sadly as he loaded up his guns, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt;">"Oh, what a -- pity that the tried to run."

'Twas later in the afternoon the Sergent and his mate Came riding blithely through the bush to meet a cruel fate. "The Kellys have the drop on you!" cried McIntyre aloud But the trooper took it as a joke and sat their horses proud.

Then trooper Scanlan made a move his rifle to unsling, But to his heart a bullet speed and death was in the sting; Then Kennedy leapt from his mount and ran for cover near, And fought, a game man to the last, for all that life held dear.

The sergeant's horse raced from the camp alike from friend and foe, And McIntyre, his life at stake, sprang to the saddle- bow And galloped far into the night, a haunted, harassed soul, Then like a hunted bandicoot hid in a wombat hole.

At down of day he hastened forth an made for Mansfield town To break the news that made men vow to shoot the bandits down, So from that hour the Kelly Gang was hunted far and wide, Like outlawed dingoes of the wild until the day they died.

There are many versions of this ballad Ned Kelly Homepage State Library Home