When The Raintumbles Down In July

Let me wander north to the ho-omestead

Way out further on there to roam

By a gully in flood, let me linger

When the summery sunshine has flown

Where the logs tangle up on the creek beds

And clouds fill the old northern sky

And the cattle move back from the lowlands

When the rain tumbles down in July

The settlers with sad hearts are watching

The rise of the stream from the dawn

Their best crops are always in flood reach

If it rises much more they'll be gone

The cattle string out along the fences

The wind from the south races by

And the limbs from the old gums are fallen

When the rain tumbles down in July

The sleeping gums on the hillside

Awaken to herds strayin' by

Here on the flats where the fences have vanished

As the storm clouds gather on high

The wheels of the wagons stop turning

The stock horse is turned out to stray

The old station dogs are a-dozin'

On the husks in the barn through the day

The drover draws rein by the river

And it's years since he's seen it so high

Yes and that's just a story of homeward

When the rain tumbles down in July