John Kanaka
Hugill learned this from Harding, a shantyman of Barbados. He gives a chorus with the words “tulai eh†which he thinks to be Samoan. There is a reference in Two Years Before the Mast to the singing of worksongs by the Kanaka (Hawaiian) crews of ships loading hides on the Californian coast. Hugill thinks these songs were adapted for use by white seamen and that John Kanaka is the sole survivor. Kanaka is Hawaiian: “Person,†or “Man†in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, any of the South Pacific islanders employed in Australia on sugar plantations or cattle stations or as servants in towns were known as Kanaka. The islanders were first introduced into Queensland in 1847 for employment on cotton plantations; in succeeding years they formed the cheap-labour base in the sugar industry.
I heard, I heard, the old man say,
John Kanaka-naka tu-lai-ay!
Today, today is a holiday,
John Kanaka-naka tu-lai-ay!
Tu-lai-ay, Oh…! Tu-lai-ay!
John Kanaka-naka tu-lai-ay!
We'll work tomorrow, but no work today,
We'll work tomorrow, but no work today.
John Kanaka-naka tu-lai-ay!
We're bound away at the break of day.
John Kanaka-naka tu-lai-ay!
We wish to Christ we'd never been born!
Oh haul away, an' make yer pay!
The Exmouth Shanty Men are proud to be associated with
