The Wild Colonial Boy
The Wild Colonial Boy is a traditional Irish folk ballad made famous by the Clancy Brothers. The song tells the tale of an Irish Rebel, Jacl Duggan, from County Kerry who left Ireland for Australia where he became a convict and a bushranger who was eventually shot and killed by the bullet of Fitzroy. The Wild Colonial Boy can be heard being sung in the film The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.
The Wild Colonial Boy – Listen to Midi
There was a wild colonial boy, Jack Duggan was his name
He was born and bred in Ireland in a place called Castlemaine
He was his father’s only son, his mother’s pride and joy
And dearly did his parents love the Wild Colonial Boy
At the age of sixteen years he left his native home
And through Australia’s sunny clime he was inclined to roarn
He robbed the lordly squatters, their flocks he would destroy
A terror to Australia was the Wild Colonial Boy
For two long years his darling youth ran on his wild career
With a heart that knew no danger, their justice did not fear
He stuck the Beechworth coach up and he robbed judge McEvoy
Who, trembling gave his gold up to the Wild Colonial Boy
He bade the judge “good morning” and he told him to beware
For he never robbed an honest judge what acted on the square
Yet you would rob a mother of her son and only joy
And breed a race of outlaws like the Wild Colonial Boy
One morning on the prairie Wild Jack Duggan rode along
While listening to the mocking birds singing a cheerful song
Out jumped three troopers fierce and grim, Kelly, Davis and Fitzroy
They all set out to capture him, the Wild Colonial Boy
He fired point blank at Kelly and brought him to the ground
He fired a shot at Davis too, who fell dead at the sound
But a bullet pierced his brave young heart from the pistol of Fitzroy
And that was how they captured the Wild Colonial Boy