A Tale They Won't Believe

We left Macquarie Harbour
 It was in the pouring rain
 None of us quite sure if we would see England again
 Some fool muttered "Death or Liberty"
 There were six of us together
 A jolly hungry crew
 And as the days went by you know
 Our hunger quickly grew
 Some fool muttered "Death or Liberty"
 So that night, we made fires out of twigs and out of bark
 And our stomachs, they were grumbling
 All through the night, so dark
 We were only trying
 To keep ourselves alive
 When the sun came up next morning
 The six had turned to five
 And I said
 Right there's another one don't you frown
 Chew the meat and hold it down
 It's a tale they won't believe
 When I get down to Hobart Town
 ♪
 Our five of us were nervous
 And I'll tell you, that's a fact
 But you should've seen the bastard
 Who was carrying the axe
 He was a sick man, he had murder in his heart
 And then we reached the Franklin River
 And it took two days to cross
 We were wet and almost starving
 And for food we're at a loss
 We were hungry men with murder on our minds
 So that night, we made fire out of twigs and out of bark
 And our stomachs, they were rumbling
 All through the night, so dark
 And they were making noises, the dead could not ignore
 When the sun came up next morning
 The five had turned to four
 And I said
 Right there's another one don't you frown
 Chew the meat and hold it down
 It's a tale they won't believe
 When I get down to Hobart Town
 Well, the four of us kept marching
 To a place called Western Tiers
 A country full of tasty game, for us it held no cheer
 We had no guns, we were travelling without hope
 The axe had loomed so ominous
 And God's hand was at play
 The sick man is the type of game that cannot run away
 So stay easy, my poor man, your time's at hand
 So that night, we made fires out of twigs and out of bark
 And our stomachs, they were grumbling
 All through the night, so dark
 Can't say that I feel guilty, after all it wasn't me
 When the sun came up next morning
 The four had turned to three
 And I said
 Right there's another one don't you frown
 Chew the meat and hold it down
 It's a tale they won't believe
 When I get down to Hobart Town
 The three of us kept moving
 One was fading fast
 He'd been bitten by a snake, and you could see he would not last
 Stay easy, my good man, your time's at hand
 When he could last no longer
 His days were fading fast
 We were far too weak to carry him
 Subsistency comes first
 Stay easy, my good man, your time's at hand
 So that night, we made fires, out of twigs and out of bark
 And our stomachs, they were grumbling
 All through the night, so dark
 It was a messy job
 But it was one we had to do
 When the sun came up next day, guess what
 The three had turned to two
 And I said
 Right there's another one don't you frown
 Chew the meat and hold it down
 It's a tale they won't believe
 When I get down to Hobart Town
 ♪
 Now he'd been looking at me funny
 Sort of eyeing me for days
 You would not need to be too bright
 To know that bastard's ways
 He was a sick man, he had murder in his heart
 But even bastards have to rest
 And even bastards have to sleep
 And when he was in the land of Nod
 Straight over I did creep
 And the axe that he once wielded now was mine
 So that night, I made a fire, out of twigs and out of bark
 And my stomach, it kept rumbling
 Out through the night, so dark
 Can't say that I enjoyed it
 It wasn't exactly fun
 When the sun came up next morning
 The two had turned to one
 And I said
 Right there's another one don't you frown
 Chew the meat and hold it down
 It's a tale they won't believe
 When I get down to Hobart Town
 ♪
 Well now, history's a pack of lies
 As any fool can tell
 So when I got down to Hobart Town
 I told my story well
 But do you think they would believe one word I said
 They thought I was covering
 For my mates, still at large
 That they'd be roaming in the bush
 So wild and free
 And back to Old Macquarie Harbour they sent me
 But I remember, fires made out of twigs and made of bark
 And my stomach it was grumbling
 All through the night, so dark
 And this young fool, he just said to me
 "It's Liberty or Death"
 And he looked a rather tasty one, I just could not help it singing
 Right there's another one, don't you frown
 Chew the meat and hold it down
 It's a tale they won't believe
 When I get down
 When I get down
 When I get down to Hobart Town