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Banjo Paterson - El Mahdi to the Australian Troops
Work rating: Low

And wherefore have they come, this warlike band,
That o`er the ocean many a weary day
Have tossed; and now beside Suakim`s Bay,
With faces stern and resolute, do stand,
Waking the desert`s echoes with the drum —
Men of Australia, wherefore have ye come?
To keep the Puppet Khedive on the throne,
To strike a blow for tyranny and wrong,
To crush the weak and aid the oppressing strong!
Regardless of the hapless Fellah`s moan,
To force the payment of the Hebrew loan,
Squeezing the tax like blood from out the stone?

And fair Australia, freest of the free,
Is up in arms against the freeman`s fight;
And with her mother joined to crush the right —
Has left her threatened treasures o`er the sea,
Has left her land of liberty and law
To flesh her maiden sword in this unholy war.

Enough! God never blessed such enterprise —
England`s degenerate Generals yet shall rue
Brave Gordon sacrificed, when soon they view
The children of a thousand deserts rise
To drive them forth like sand before the gale —
God and the Prophet! Freedom will prevail.
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