The Ballad of Harold Lasseter

This ballad was produced by a group of year 9/10 English students.

He was the man called Lasseter,

Who went looking for some gold,

A massive reef on Aussie soil,

But where we are not told.

Harold Lasseter was an ambitious old chap,

He was as crazy as they came,

A champion with a pick and map,

And a gold reef the object of his aim.

I guess you think you know this story,

You dont the next one’s much more gory,

The phoney one, the one you know,

Was cooked up years and years ago,

And made to sound all soft and sappy,

Just to keep the media happy.

Mind you they got the first bit right,

The bit where in the dead of night,

Harold Lasseter gear and all,

Departed for the outback ball.

A mob of blokes,

They called them ‘CAGE’,

Wanted to dispel the hoax,

And turn another page.

He spent his time by the Hull in a cave,

Where he sheltered from the rain,

But shortly he began to rave,

And was never seen again.

The his body was discovered,

Deep in an open cave,

There it was the tears were shed,

And there they built his grave.

Then along came Hiddens

Emerging on the scene,

Who used his expert knowledge,

To reveal the truth unseen.

Fruitless searches came to naught,

What good a reef of gold?

And when the life that he had sought,

He would for bread have sold.

Anonymous June 1012 for Major Les Hiddens (Bushtucker Man)