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One guest who has started quite a stir at this party has been Gloria with her pal Kanga.  The exploits of the famous Captian Cook were known to the folk of Bodmin moor and they had heard how after claiming New Zealand for the British, Cook sailed along the east coast of New Holland, or Australia, heading north (April-August 1770). He started to chart the east coast and on 29th April landed for the first time in a place which  he named  Stingray, later, Botany Bay.

On the 10th of June the ship struck the Great Barrier Reef and was badly damaged. Repairs had to be carried out in Endeavour River. (June-August 1770) and it was here that the first kangaroo seen by the British was recorded and shot. This song is about a Cornish seaman who sailed on a ship named after the famous beast. Gloria will sing it whilst bouncing around on Kanga. 

Come on Gloria nice deep voice now..

Aboard the Kangaroo

O, once I was a waterman
And lived at home at ease,
And now I am a mariner
And plough the angry seas.
I thought I'd like seafaring life,
So bid my love adieu,
And shipp'd as cook and steward boys,
On board the Kangaroo.

My love she was no foolish girl,
Her age it was two score,
My love was not a spinster,
She'd been married twice before;
And they could not say it was her wealth
That stole my heart away.
For she was a laundry starcher
At sixteen pence a day.

Oh think of me! Oh think of me!
She mournfully did say,
When you are in a foreign land,
Three thousand miles away;
And take this lucky farthing,
'Twill make you bear in mind
The loving, faithful, trusting heart
You leave in tears behind.

Cheer up! Cheer up! my own true love,
Don't weep so bitterly,
But she sobbed and sighed and choked
And cried and couldn't say goodbye.
I won't be gone so very long,
Maybe a month or two,
And when I do come back again,
Of course I'll marry you.

Our vessel it was homeward bound
From many a foreign shore.
And many a foreign present
Unto my love I bore;
There were tortoises from Teneriffe
And toys from Timbuctoo,
A Chinese rat and a Bengal cat
And a Bombay cockatoo.

Paid off, I sought her dwelling
In the heart of Falmouth town,
An ancient dame upon a line
Was hanging out a gown.
Where is my love? She's married, sir,
About six months ago,
To a man who drives a hardware van
For Johnny Fox and Co.

Farewell to Cornish maidens sir
And the famous Rose and Crown,
To Tommy Blue, well known to you,
And Penryns Jacob Brown;
I'll seek some far and distant clime,
I can no longer stay,
For my heart is now so shattered
I must live on China tay.

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With thanks to Lesley Nelson-Burns for the information and she is also the creator of the midi file.