Back Home in Derry

In 1803 we sailed out to sea

Out from the sweet town of Derry

For Australia bound if we didn't all drown

The marks of our fetters we carried

In our rusty iron chains, we cried for our weans

Our good women we left in sorrow

As the mainsails unfurled, our curses we hurled

On the English and thoughts of tomorrow

At the mouth of the Foyle, bid farewell to the soil

As down below decks we were lying

O'Doherty screamed, woken out of a dream

By a vision of bold Robert dying

The sun burned cruel as we dished out the gruel

Dan O'Connor was down with a fever

Sixty rebels today bound for Botany Bay

How many will reach their receiver?

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry

I cursed them to hell, as our bow fought the swell

Our ship danced like a moth in the firelight

White horses rode high as the devil passed by

Taking souls to Hades by twilight

Five weeks out to sea, we were now forty-three

We buried our comrades each morning

In our own slime we were lost in the time

Endless night without dawning

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry

Van Diemen's land is a hell for a man

To end out his whole life in slavery

Where the climate is raw and the gun makes the law

Neither wind nor rain care for bravery

Twenty years have gone by, I've ended my bond

My comrades' ghosts walk behind me

A rebel I came—I'm still the same

On the cold wind of night you will find me

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry

Oh... oh, I wish I was back home in Derry