Billy of Tea

You can talk of your whiskey and talk of your beer

There's something much nicer that's waiting us here

It sits on the fire beneath the gum tree

There's nothing much nicer than a billy of tea!

So fill up your tumblers as high as you can

And don't you dare tell me it's not the best plan

You can let all your beer and your spirits go free

I'll stick to my darling old billy of tea

I'll rise in the morning as soon as it's light

And I go to the nosebag to see it's alright

That the ants on the sugar no mortgage have got

And straight away sling my old black billy-pot

And while it is boiling the horses I seek

And follow them down as far as the creek

I take off their hobbles and let them run free

Then haste to tuck into my billy of tea

And at night when I camp, if the day has been warm

I give to my horses their tucker of corn

From the two in the pole to the one in the lead

A billy for each holds a comfortable feed

Then the fire I make and the water I get

And corned beef and damper in order I set

But I don't touch the grub, though so hungry I be

I wait till it's ready - my billy of tea!

You can talk of your whiskey and talk of your beer

There's something much nicer that's waiting us here

It sits on the fire beneath the gum tree

There's nothing much nicer than a billy of tea!