my father and others used to sing it here in australia just the other year i had to sing it at a lockdown in a pub in dingle just down the road from castlemaine and it took a few hours of thirsty discussion to get to an agreed understanding there's a few different versions and of course all insist theirs is the correct one the one i always heard was there was a wild colonial boy jack doolan was his name of poor but honest parents he was born in a castlemaine he was his father's only son his mother's pride and joy and dearly did his parents love the wild colonial boy at the tender age of sixteen years jack left his native home and to australia's sunny shores a bushranger did roam he robbed the lordly squatters and mumble something of their toys a terror to australia was the wild colonial boy and so on