Marching across Van Diemen’s Land
Alexander Pearce was the first person to travel across Australia's Tasmania on foot. In the early 19th century, when he accomplished this feat, the island was known as Van Diemen's Land. Pearce was an escaped convict at the time of his disturbing journey; a journey that has been memorialized through story and film and now in the form of an original four-part choral anthem.
Lyrics:
Come, my friends on a journey grand.
Come Greenhill, Travers, Bodenham,
Little Brown, Dalton, Kennely, Mather, join the band:
Alexander Pearce is marching across Van Diemen’s Land!
Take a boat ‘cross Macquarie Harbor,
Steal an axe and head for the far shore,
Run all day to the mountainside
And in the night find a place to hide.
Supplies are low within a week.
Through primal forests and mountains steep,
Through snow and sleet stumble and crawl on
And when you need to, eat William Dalton.
Come, my friends on a journey grand.
Come Greenhill, Travers, Bodenham,
Little Brown, Dalton, Kennely, Mather, join the band:
Alexander Pearce is marching across Van Diemen’s Land!
If your mind’s sharp but your feet are slow
You’ll see how things are going to go.
You’ll sneak away and turn around
Like Kennely did and Little Brown.
Those were the smart ones, but then again
There are the folks like old Bodenham:
He’s not too quick and he’s not so bright,
But he was tasty for supper that night.
Come, my friends on a journey grand.
Come Greenhill, Travers, Bodenham,
Little Brown, Dalton, Kennely, Mather, join the band:
Alexander Pearce is marching across Van Diemen’s Land!
Four men left and don’t get tired
Or you’ll be roasting on the fire.
Just ask Mathers and Travers who climbed the mountains’ summits
And came down inside their two friends’ stomachs.
Keep your distance and don’t relax,
Two men are left and just one axe.
Both men are hungry, tired and suspicious.
Both men are desperate, both are delicious:
Greenhill and Pearce.
Alexander Pearce has crawled into history’s hand:
He made it ‘cross Van Diemen’s Land!
But he also has stumbled into the authority’s hands
And is shipped across to Macquarie Harbor once again.
Pearce’s escape is a legend with the men,
And Thomas Cox begs, "Do it again!"
Across the harbor the two men steal,
Just far enough for Pearce to have a meal.
© 2007, Daniel C. Meyer