The Wild Colonial Boy

They sing this in the bar in my favoite movie. Next week will be my annual renewal of endearment for The Quiet Man.

There was a wild colonial boy, Jack Duggan was his name.
He was born and bred in Ireland in a town called Castlemaine.
He was his father’s only son, his mother’s pride and joy
And dearly did his parents love their wild colonial boy.

At the early age of sixteen years he left his native home,
And to Australia’s sunny shore he was inclined to roam.
He robbed the rich to feed the poor, he stabbed James McEvoy
A terror to Australia was the wild colonial boy.

One morning on the prairie as Jack Duggan rode along
Listening to the mockingbird singing a cheerful song
Out stepped three troopers fierce and grim, Kelly, Davis and Fitzroy
They all set out to capture him, the wild colonial boy.

Surrender now, Jack Duggan, for you see we’re three to one
Surrender in the Queen’s high name, for you’re a plundering son.
Jack drew two pistols from his belt and glared upon Fitzroy,
“I’ll fight, but not surrender,” said the wild colonial boy.

He fired a shot at Kelly which brought him to the ground
And turning then to Davis he received a fatal wound,
A bullet pierced his proud young heart from the rifle of Fitzroy,
And that was how they captured him, the wild colonial boy.

The Wild Colonial Boy was a great favourite of John Ford’s. It concerns an Australian bushranger and outlaw of Irish extraction called Jack Duggan (originally Doolin). One of the lines was changed to fit the plot of The Quiet Man – “He robbed the rich to feed the poor, he stabbed James McEvoy” – became “He robbed the wealthy Squireen, all arms he did destroy”

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