A Tale They Won't Believe

We left Macquarie Harbour It was in the pouring rain None of us quite sure if we would see England again Some fool muttered "Death or Liberty" There were six of us together A jolly hungry crew And as the days went by you know Our hunger quickly grew Some fool muttered "Death or Liberty" So that night, we made fires out of twigs and out of bark And our stomachs, they were grumbling All through the night, so dark We were only trying To keep ourselves alive When the sun came up next morning The six had turned to five And I said Right there's another one don't you frown Chew the meat and hold it down It's a tale they won't believe When I get down to Hobart Town Our five of us were nervous And I'll tell you, that's a fact But you should've seen the bastard Who was carrying the axe He was a sick man, he had murder in his heart And then we reached the Franklin River And it took two days to cross We were wet and almost starving And for food we're at a loss We were hungry men with murder on our minds So that night, we made fire out of twigs and out of bark And our stomachs, they were rumbling All through the night, so dark And they were making noises, the dead could not ignore When the sun came up next morning The five had turned to four And I said Right there's another one don't you frown Chew the meat and hold it down It's a tale they won't believe When I get down to Hobart Town Well, the four of us kept marching To a place called Western Tiers A country full of tasty game, for us it held no cheer We had no guns, we were travelling without hope The axe had loomed so ominous And God's hand was at play The sick man is the type of game that cannot run away So stay easy, my poor man, your time's at hand So that night, we made fires out of twigs and out of bark And our stomachs, they were grumbling All through the night, so dark Can't say that I feel guilty, after all it wasn't me When the sun came up next morning The four had turned to three And I said Right there's another one don't you frown Chew the meat and hold it down It's a tale they won't believe When I get down to Hobart Town The three of us kept moving One was fading fast He'd been bitten by a snake, and you could see he would not last Stay easy, my good man, your time's at hand When he could last no longer His days were fading fast We were far too weak to carry him Subsistency comes first Stay easy, my good man, your time's at hand So that night, we made fires, out of twigs and out of bark And our stomachs, they were grumbling All through the night, so dark It was a messy job But it was one we had to do When the sun came up next day, guess what The three had turned to two And I said Right there's another one don't you frown Chew the meat and hold it down It's a tale they won't believe When I get down to Hobart Town Now he'd been looking at me funny Sort of eyeing me for days You would not need to be too bright To know that bastard's ways He was a sick man, he had murder in his heart But even bastards have to rest And even bastards have to sleep And when he was in the land of Nod Straight over I did creep And the axe that he once wielded now was mine So that night, I made a fire, out of twigs and out of bark And my stomach, it kept rumbling Out through the night, so dark Can't say that I enjoyed it It wasn't exactly fun When the sun came up next morning The two had turned to one And I said Right there's another one don't you frown Chew the meat and hold it down It's a tale they won't believe When I get down to Hobart Town Well now, history's a pack of lies As any fool can tell So when I got down to Hobart Town I told my story well But do you think they would believe one word I said They thought I was covering For my mates, still at large That they'd be roaming in the bush So wild and free And back to Old Macquarie Harbour they sent me But I remember, fires made out of twigs and made of bark And my stomach it was grumbling All through the night, so dark And this young fool, he just said to me "It's Liberty or Death" And he looked a rather tasty one, I just could not help it singing Right there's another one, don't you frown Chew the meat and hold it down It's a tale they won't believe When I get down When I get down When I get down to Hobart Town