Explore "A Job for McGuinness" by Andrew Barton Paterson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A man named McGuinness and his wife are leaving Australia because the / man can get no work, though his wife is offered plenty of employment at / washing and cooking.
Oh, it's dreadful to think in a country like this / With its chances for work -- and enjoyment / That a man like McGuinness was certain to miss / Whenever he tried for employment.
He wrote to employers from Bondi to Bourke, / From Woolloomooloo to Glen Innes, / But he found -- though his wife could get plenty of work -- / There was never a job for McGuinness.
But perhaps -- later on -- when the Chow and the Jap / Begin to drift down from the tropics, / When a big yellow stain spreading over the map / Provides some disquieting topics,
Oh, it's then when they're wanting a man that will stand / In the trench where his own kith and kin is, / With a frown on his face and a gun in his hand -- / Then there might be a job for McGuinness!
The Sydney Sportsman, 31 July 1923