Swan River Mahogany

When first they saw my colour, they knew they had a tree

In amongst the red gums, just one in every three

My native name was jarrah, I was tough and dark and brown

They got to know my virtues, and then they got me down

They cursed my constitution with their axes and their saws

Many’s the tooth I blunted and many’s the axe I wore

The termites couldn’t touch me, but I felt the sharpened steel

The forests fairly cracked and rang, as I was taught to kneel

CHORUS

I was there in every fence-post, every door-step every beam

I was hauled from virgin forest, by horse and bullock team

Through ranges over ridges, of a far-flung colony

I was known to every settler as Swan River Mahoghany

They split me down for palings, for gates and cattleyards

For floorboards I was hunted – they knew my face was hard

For purlins, and for rafters, pit-props and jetty piles

You could count me on the railways, two thousand to the mile

They carted me from Collie, Jarrahdale and Donnybrook

To Rockingham and Bunbury, and ocean trips I took

To far-off lands and places, I was paid no airs and graces

The dirt of foreign countries, I met it face to face

My numbers are depleted, and I’m not feelin’ good

They’re planting “yellow cousins”, in places I once stood

Remember me with reverence – I need no fancy stain

Just pick yourself a good piece, and polish up my grain

Swan River Mahogany: A. Mann / R. Mann

This is song, from brothers Alan and Ray Mann, was for an ABC documentary on the timber industry, recorded at Jardee Mill in the 1980’s.  Swan River Mahogany was the name given to jarrah by the early settlers of the Swan River Colony, because of its exceptional qualities.  Jarrah, one of the world’s best hardwoods, was the lifeblood of the colony in its early years and was shipped to markets around the world.