LALGAMBOOK SONG
Words: Ken Mansell, September 2000.
( optional tune: 'Tour of the Dales' ( trad. Yorkshire ))
( optional tune: 'Tour of the Dales' ( trad. Yorkshire ))
Come with me people and I'll read you a book
That has been passed down - I'm the great ''Lalgambook''
For millions of years, from the earth's molten core
A good deal of lava pushed up through my floor.
Oh I fought Tarrengower and I fought Moorookyle
With slingshot and boulder - and a scoria pile
I fought other mountains, exchanged many blows
Then lay down to sleep when my last blood had flowed.
That has been passed down - I'm the great ''Lalgambook''
For millions of years, from the earth's molten core
A good deal of lava pushed up through my floor.
Oh I fought Tarrengower and I fought Moorookyle
With slingshot and boulder - and a scoria pile
I fought other mountains, exchanged many blows
Then lay down to sleep when my last blood had flowed.
Chorus: Come to me, come to me - and hear of my heritage, and all of my strange history.
The clans known as ''Dja Dja'' were drawn to my charms
Fished in my rivers, danced in my arms
Larnebarramul Swamp was a camp and a home
And they left their stone axes deep down in the loam.
The emu, echidna, the wombat and 'roo
Sought my green forests, danced with me too
For 5000 years I lay still asleep
Then along came John Hepburn - and the baaing of sheep.
Fished in my rivers, danced in my arms
Larnebarramul Swamp was a camp and a home
And they left their stone axes deep down in the loam.
The emu, echidna, the wombat and 'roo
Sought my green forests, danced with me too
For 5000 years I lay still asleep
Then along came John Hepburn - and the baaing of sheep.
Hepburn re-named me - from a song, did you know?
And so very briefly I became Mount Jim Crow
Hepburn would visit when he felt like a ride
And soon there were squatters on every side.
With dogs and disease and the whitefella gun
The ''Dja Dja'' were moved from their place in the sun
Oh Edward Stone Parker came serving the Lord
And established a church that he called Franklinford.
And so very briefly I became Mount Jim Crow
Hepburn would visit when he felt like a ride
And soon there were squatters on every side.
With dogs and disease and the whitefella gun
The ''Dja Dja'' were moved from their place in the sun
Oh Edward Stone Parker came serving the Lord
And established a church that he called Franklinford.
John Franklin retired from the vice-regal role
And went into training to claim the North Pole
He climbed to my crater, good Lady in hand
And he said ''Now I'm ready for icy Greenland''.
They'd stolen my name, but my secret of old
Unknown still remained - ancient rivers of gold!
Where aboriginal farmers had dug only seeds
The white men came seeking deep underground leads.
And went into training to claim the North Pole
He climbed to my crater, good Lady in hand
And he said ''Now I'm ready for icy Greenland''.
They'd stolen my name, but my secret of old
Unknown still remained - ancient rivers of gold!
Where aboriginal farmers had dug only seeds
The white men came seeking deep underground leads.
And soon there were shafts all along the road line
The Shakespeare, Leviathan, Robbie Burns mine
From Dry Diggings township to Shimmins's Reef
And Rees was the butcher who slaughtered the beef.
These miners from Wales took up land for to till
Building stone fences, an old Celtic skill
Today at Mount Franklin, Welsh settlers are rare
But I know for a fact that the Powells are still there.
The Shakespeare, Leviathan, Robbie Burns mine
From Dry Diggings township to Shimmins's Reef
And Rees was the butcher who slaughtered the beef.
These miners from Wales took up land for to till
Building stone fences, an old Celtic skill
Today at Mount Franklin, Welsh settlers are rare
But I know for a fact that the Powells are still there.
And when Swiss-Italians discovered the spa
Horses and buggies drove to Lithia
The wealth of these waters far richer than gold
And Bill Liversidge dowsed for the rivers of old.
For millions of years since Lalgambook's birth
The eucalypt forest trees grew in my earth
But then the great bushfires, '44, '69
They swallowed the forest - now I'm covered with Pine.
Horses and buggies drove to Lithia
The wealth of these waters far richer than gold
And Bill Liversidge dowsed for the rivers of old.
For millions of years since Lalgambook's birth
The eucalypt forest trees grew in my earth
But then the great bushfires, '44, '69
They swallowed the forest - now I'm covered with Pine.
© Ken Mansell
Thank you to Ken Mansell who very kindly assented to the use of his song. For more on this song and the recent history of Mt. Franklin go to http://www.geomantica.com/geom25.htm where Alanna Moore has posted a great article about stopping Telecom from defacing Mt. Franklin with one of their towers. Great work all of you!
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