The shipping-office clerks are -short,- the manager is gruff-
-They cannot make reductions,- and -the fares are low enough.-
They ship us West with cattle, and we go like cattle too;
And fight like dogs three times a day for what we get to chew. . . .
We-ll have the pick of empty bunks and lots of stretching room,
And go for next to nothing at the Bursting of the Boom.
So wait till the Boom bursts!-we-ll all get a show:
Then when the Boom bursts is our time to go.
We-ll meet -em coming back in shoals, with looks of deepest gloom,
But we-re the sort that battle through at the Bursting of the Boom.

The captain-s easy-going when Fremantle comes in sight;
He can-t say when you-ll get ashore-perhaps tomorrow night;
Your coins are few, the charges high; you must not linger here-
You-ll get your boxes from the hold when she-s -longside the pier.-
The launch will foul the gangway, and the trembling bulwarks loom
Above a fleet of harbour craft-at the Bursting of the Boom.

So wait till the Boom bursts!-we-ll all get a show;
He-ll -take you for a bob, sir,- and where you want to go.
He-ll -take the big portmanteau, sir, if he might so presume--
You needn-t hump your luggage at the Bursting of the Boom.

It-s loafers-Customs-loafers-and you pay and pay again;
They hinder you and cheat you from the gangway to the train;
The pubs and restaurants are full-they haven-t room for more;
They charge us each three shillings for a shakedown on the floor;
But, -Show this gentleman upstairs-the first front parlour room.
-We-ll see about your luggage, sir--at the Bursting of the Boom.

So wait till the Boom bursts!-we-ll all get a show;
And wait till the Boom bursts, and swear mighty low.
-We mostly charge a pound a week. How do you like the room?-
And -Show this gentleman the bath--at the Bursting of the Boom.

I go down to the timber-yard (I cannot face the rent)
To get some strips of oregon to frame my hessian tent;
To buy some scraps of lumber for a table or a shelf:
The boss comes up and says I might just look round for myself ;
The foreman grunts and turns away as silent as the tomb-
The boss himself will wait on me at the Bursting of the Boom.

So wait till the Boom bursts!-we-ll all get a load.
-You had better take those scraps, sir, they-re only in the road.-
-Now, where the hell-s the carter?- you-ll hear the foreman fume;
And, -Take that timber round at once!- at the Bursting of the Boom.

Each one-a-penny grocer, in his box of board and tin,
Will think it condescending to consent to take you in;
And not content with twice as much as what is just and right,
They charge and cheat you doubly, for the Boom is at its height.
It-s-Take it now or leave it now;- -your money or your room;-
But -Who-s attending Mr. Brown?- at the Bursting of the Boom.

So wait till the Boom bursts!-and take what you can get,
-There-s not the slightest hurry, and your bill ain-t ready yet.-
They-ll call and get your orders until the crack o- doom,
And send them round directly, at the Bursting of the Boom.

No Country and no Brotherhood-such things are dead and cold;
A camp from all the lands or none, all mad for love of gold ;
Where T-othersider number one makes slave of number two,
And the vilest women of the world the vilest ways pursue;
And men go out and slave and bake and die in agony
In western hells that God forgot, where never man should be.
I feel a prophet in my heart that speaks the one word -Doom!-
And aye you-ll hear the Devil laugh at the Bursting of the Boom.