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The Stockyard Liar

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The Stockyard Liar (1897)
by William Henry Ogilvie

First published in The Queenslander, 10 April 1897.

4245579The Stockyard Liar1897William Henry Ogilvie

If ever you're handling a rough one,
There's bound to be perched on the rails
Of the stockyard some grizzled old tough one,
Whose flow of advice never fails.
There are plenty, of course, who aspire
To make plain you're only a dunce;
But the most insupportable liar
Is the man who has "ridden 'em once."

He will tell you a tale and a rum one,
With never a smile on his face,
How he broke for old Somebody Someone,
At some unapproachable place;
How they bucked and snorted and squealed.
How he spurred 'em and flogged 'em and how
He would gallop 'em round till they reeled,
But he's "getting too old for it now."

Let them spell from Free Trade and Protection
And give Federation a rest,
For the matter that wants their inspection
Is waiting out here in the West:
And the law that the country requires
At the hands of her Statesmen of sense
Is a law to abolish the liars
That can sit a roughbuck—"on the fence."

This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:

  • published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
  • anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
  • government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).

This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.


This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse