Sorensen, Jack

Australia, (1907-1949)

How We Cashed The Pig

  1. We shore for a farmer at Wallaby Bend
  2. Myself and my mate Dan McLean:
  3. And while we were toiling, an old bushman friend
  4. Wrote saying the farmer was mean.
  5.  
  6. We finished his shearing, (The flock was not big)
  7. And imagine our wrath and dismay
  8. When he went to a sty and returned with a pig,
  9. And said, “This is all I can pay.”
  10.  
  11. We set out next morn down the long dusty track,
  12. In the blackest of humours I fear,
  13. I carried our pig on a bag on my back,
  14. While McLean trudged along with our gear.
  15.  
  16. I talked as we journeyed – It lightened my load,
  17. And was pointing out how we’d been robbed
  18. When we came to a shanty that stood by the road
  19. And I turned out my pockets and sobbed.
  20.  
  21. “Cheer Up,” cried McLean, “We will drink and forget
  22. That old blighter back at the Bend.”
  23. I said in soft accents, imbued with regret
  24. “Alas! We have nothing to spend.”
  25.  
  26. My comrade replied, “What a dullard you are,
  27. We’ll drink and make merry in style.”
  28. Then seizing our pig, he walked into the bar
  29. And ordered our drinks with a smile.
  30.  
  31. Our host filled ’em up and went off with the pig
  32. As though the affair was not strange
  33. We scarcely had time our refreshments to swig,
  34. When he came back with ten piglets change.
  35.  
  36. We stayed at that shanty that night and next day,
  37. (Good liquour was much cheaper then).
  38. And gladly rejoicing we went on our way
  39. With a basket of eggs and a hen.

 Jack Sorensen. The Collected Poems of Jack Sorensen, edited by Mary Durack. Perth: Service Printing Co. (1950).

About the Poet:

John Alfred “Jack” Sorensen, Australia, (1907-1949), was a bush poet, a balladeer, orchardist, gun shearer, wool-classer, boxing champion, journalist, and soldier. He was also known as Western Australia’s Fighting Poet and the “Weaver of Dreams.”

The appellation Fighting Poet came when, as a strong, burly lad, Sorensen became interested in boxing, and took up the sport under the name of “Johnny Brown”. He was quite successful, becoming the WA welter weight boxing champion. He often explained that he had to “learn to fight so he could write poetry”.

The “Weaver of Dreams” was a designation Sorensen earned through his own envisioning of himself as a re-incarnation of those ancient bards of this Irish heritage, roaring out his ballade in a rush-strewn hall as did the great balladists of days of yore. He crafted much of his work with a strain of delightful Irish humour and imagery, coupled with the songs and stories from her mother’s native county Meath.

Throughout his life he drew on his vast repertoire of experiences as a labourer to write poetry and songs mainly about life in rural Western Australia, often with an environmental theme. Sorensen died by his own hand on the ship in Sydney. He was buried in the Guildford Cemetery in the Upper Swan district, Midland, WA. and his headstone is inscribed:

Jack Sorensen 1906-1947
Weaver of Dreams, Farewell.

At some stage throughout his life, Sorensen had most of his poems published in various newspapers and magazines. His close friend, Dame Mary Durack (1913-1994), an Australian author and historian collected and published Sorensen’s poems shortly after his death. A number of his poems were set to music and to this day various folk music bands continue to include them in their repertoire. There are only some 115 poems currently known. [DES-04/18]

Additional information:

  • Jack Sorensen on AustLit
  • Dingos Breakfast Oz Music and Poetry Band – Roger Montgomery & John Angliss, are Dingo’s Breakfast, WA’s popular touring folk act who have set many of Jack Sorensen’s poems to music, retelling his ballads to their audiences and telling of Jack’s life in narrative, verse and song.