Words and Music: Judy Small
Sue Ribado taught me this song of a woman so busy surviving she never had a moment to question the difficult life she chose as the wife of a cocky (or cockatoo) farmer. (AMM)
My father was a cocky as his father was before him
And I married me a cocky nearly fifty years ago
And I've lived here on this station
and I've seen the seasons changing
From the drought round to the flooding
From the lambing to the wool
Chorus:
And there've been times when I wonder
if it all was worth the doing
And there've been times when I thought
this was the finest place there is
For though the life is never easy and
the hours are long and heavy
I'm quite contented nowadays to have
joined my life to his
Together through the thirties
while others' lives were broken
We worked from dawn to twilight
to hold on to what was ours
And at night we'd sit exhausted
and I'd stroke his dusty forehead
With him too tired to talk to me
and me to tired to care
Chorus
Instrumental
Then the children came unbidden
bringing laughter to the homestead
And I thank the lord my sons were young
too young for battle then
And I counted myself lucky to lose no one
close to family
Though my neighbors lost their only son
sold up and moved to town
Chorus
And the children have grown and
left me for careers in town and city
And I'm proud of them but sadly
for none chose station life
And now I smile to hear them talking
'bout the hard slog in the office
For when I think of working hard
I see a cocky and his wife
Chorus
From the Lambing to the Wool is recorded on the album Harbors of Home