Beyond His Jurisdiction (1894)
by Harry Morant
4289073Beyond His Jurisdiction1894Harry Morant

It was a Western manager, and a language-man was he,
Thus spoke he to the shed-boss: "Send 'The Rager' round to me;
I’ll hie me to the office where I’ll write his crimson cheque,
Bid him roll his dusty swag up, or I’ll break his no-good neck."

So when the bell was ringing—when "smoke-oh!" time was o'er,
Says the shed-boss, "Mick, your services are wanted here no more."
Then "The Rager" hung his shears up, stepped from the shearing floor,
And went a-swapping swear words 'round at the office-door.

For the boss began to language, and "The Rager" languaged back;
Says "The Rager" — "There’s my brother, can’t you give him, too, the sack?"
"Your brother? D––n your brother! Yes, send him 'round here, quick!" –
"That narks yez," Michael answered – "he’s a cocky down in Vic."

This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:

  • published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
  • anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
  • government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).

This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.


This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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