South Australia

English folk song from the 19th Century. Being an island nation, we have a lot of songs about the sea and sailors. Many of them would be sung by sailors as they worked the capstan that raised and lowered the sails, and were known as ’capstan shanties’ - from the French word ’chanter’ to sing. This song dates from the days of sailing ships and in this case, a journey to South Australia around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America - an extremely hazardous journey: “And as we wallop around Cape Horn .... You’ll wish to God you’d never been born“.