There Are Gipsies In Australia Poem by Francis Duggan

There are Gipsies in Australia or so I have been told
Do they still retain their customs, do they stick to ways of old?
Do they wander as in Europe not stay long in any Town
Or did they come here to Australia for to change and settle
down? .

All these questions I put to him but answers he did not know
only heard of Aussie Gipsies someone else had told him so
And that they came from parts of Europe many, many years ago
From the eastern parts he told me renowned for big falls of snow.

Any talk of Rom and Travellers take me to the poet John Clare
He knew of the English Gipsies and had memories to share
Of his nights around their camp fires when the Winter winds did bite
And of their wandering ways and habits many fine poems he
did write.

I knew of the Irish Travellers when I was a school going boy
In their horse drawn vans and side cars oft times seen them trotting by
But their old style mode of transport gave way to the motor van
And ten years brought many changes to the born to wander man

There are Gipsies in Australia of that fact I am aware
But I don't know much about them or of how many might be there
But that they migrated from Europe many, many years ago
From Romania and bordering countries and little else of them I know.