Oh Sing Us A Song Of Wonthaggi Poem by Francis Duggan

The last of the colliers are ageing their better days for them long o'er
Whilst the generation of miners before them are now at rest forever more
In the cemetery off of Cameron street a short drive from Wonthaggi Town
Far from their old Homelands in Europe they rest in peace two metres down.

To Wonthaggi the years have brought changes suppose nothing ever does last
But the pioneering Town in South West Gippsland retain links to it's coal mining past
When young men migrated to Gippsland for to mine in Wonthaggi for coal
From the heavy work they aged prematurely and the hard life on them took it's toll.

Oh sing us a song of Wonthaggi I heard the ageing fellow say
A craggy bloke in his late sixties his thinning hair was silver gray
To the young singer in the club bar room who answered with a shake of his head
I don't know any song of Wonthaggi to sing of I am sorry he said.

The old bloke had lived in Wonthaggi since he had taken his first breath in life
And with him he had his good woman for decades his dutiful wife
He told me their son and daughter live in Sydney they see them a few times a year
And their grand kids are now in their late teens he wished that to them they lived near.

When I asked them will they move to Sydney his wife she chimed in with 'no way'
We have always lived here in Wonthaggi and here in Wonthaggi
we'll stay
And though the singer may not know a song of Wonthaggi we feel our old Hometown is great
Perhaps we would pine of homesickness if we went to live Interstate.

He asked for a song of Wonthaggi but with a slow shake of his head
The singer seemed slightly embarrassed so sorry can't help you he said
To the ex miner and his good woman who had taken their first steps in life
In the Town where they had raised their children and where they became man and wife.