HEAVE AWAY, MY JOLLIES, HEAVE AWAY
The Clive Carey Collection 1924 South Australia

NOTES ON PROVENANCE

© Warren Fahey 2008

Kangaroo Island is the third largest island off the coast of Australia, being approximately 4,500 square kilometers in area, 155 kms long and 55 kms wide.

The first Europeans to arrive on Kangaroo Island in 1802 were a group lead by Matthew Flinders looking for water and fresh meat (which they had been without for four months) near the present day Penneshaw. They hunted the small kangaroos and gave the island that name.

A year after this French explorer Nicholas Baudin passed on the opposite side of the island naming the south western point Cape du Couedie after his friend and famous French sea captain Charles Louis, Chevalier du Couedie de Kergoualer (1740-1780).

This coastline off Flinders Chase was to become the final resting place for 14 ships, which came to grief on the rocky shores.

In 1902 the South Australian Marine Board recommended the construction of a lighthouse at Cape du Couedie, at the southwest extremity of Kangaroo Island. The Cape du Couedie Lighthouse was constructed between 1906-1909 and was the fifteenth to be built on South Australia's coast.

Finally, this repertoire is, of course, standard shanty, but in traditional music nothing is ‘standard’. There are several Australian references and the mere fact they were noted from traditional singers gives the collection a particular status. It is very exciting to think that this collection, recorded very early in Australia’s awareness of traditional music, has been sitting on a library shelf for so many decades.

I have retained Carey’s description and any comments in italics to differentiate from my own.

I have provided cross-references for the songs with Stan Hugill’s classic study Shanties & Sailors’ Songs (Herbert Jenkins Ltd. London. 1969) and Capstan Bars David Bone (London 1941)

Warren Fahey. 2008