The Diggers Song – by Barcroft Boake

Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake (26 March 1866 – 2 May 1892) was an Australian Stockman and poet who wrote primarily within the ‘bush poetry’ tradition. He was active for only a few years before his suicide at the young age of 26. He belived that ‘bush life’ was the only life worth living.

Boake was born in Sydney to Irish-born professional photographer Barcroft Capel Boake, his mother died when he was thirteen. Educated at private schools, Boake left home at the age of 17 and was apprenticed as a surveyor’s draughtsman. He disliked clerical work and in 1886 moved to the Monaro dirtrict to work as an assistant surveyor. He later worked as a boundary rider and drover  in the Outback. He returned to Longbay, North Sydney in early 1892 and hanged himself with a stockwhip a few months later after being missing for 8 days.

Barcroft Boake – Image Wikipidia

Boake was first published in late 1890 and regularly appeared in ‘The Bulletin’ prior to his death, with the posthumous publication of Where the Dead Men Lie, and Other Poems in 1897 bringing his work to a wider audience. His poems feature Outback settings and many of his best received works incorporate the subject of death. ‘Where the dead men lie’ is one of Australia’s most anthologised poems.

He popularised the term “Never Never” as a nickname for the Outback.