There was a wild colonial boy Jack Doolan was his name Of poor but honest parents he was born in Castlemaine. He was his father's only hope his mother's pride and joy And dearly did the parents love their wild colonial boy.
So come along me hearties and we'll roam the mountains high Together we will plunder and together we will die We'll scour along the valleys and we'll gallop over plains And scorn to live in slavery bound down by iron chains.
At the age of sixteen years he left his native home And to Australia's sunny shore A bushranger did roam. They put him in the iron gang in the government's employ But never an iron con earth could hold the wild Colonial Boy.
In sixty-one this daring youth commenced his wild career With a heart that knew and no foreman he did fear. He stuck up the Beechworth mail-coach and he robbed Judge MacEvoy, Who trembling cold gave up his gold to the wild colonial boy.
He bade the judge “Good morning,” and he told him to beware, That he'd never robbed a needy man or one who acted square, But a judge who'd rob a mother of her one and only joy, Surely he must be a worse outlaw than the wild colonial boy.
One day as Jack was riding the mountainside along A listening to the little birds their happy laughing song. Three mounted troopers came along, Kelly, Davis and Fitzroy, With a warrant for the capture of the wild colonial boy.
Surrender now Jack Doolan, for you see it's three to one. Surrender in the Queen's own name, You are a highwayman. Jack drew a pistol from his belt and waved it like a toy. “I'll fight but never surrender,” said the wild colonial boy.
He fired at Trooper Kelly and brought him to the ground, And in return from Davis received a mortal wound. All shattered through the jaws he lay still firing at Fitzroy And that's the way they captured him, the wild colonial boy.
"The Wild Colonial Boy". Rendered by The Outlanders (Australian Traditional Collection)
