NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG

Gin and Raspberry
Martin Curtis, 1979

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The "Gin and Raspberry" was the richest mine in the Cardrona valley during the 1860s Otago gold rush. It got its name from the owner's custom of shouting gin and raspberry to all hands when a bucket of pay-dirt yielded an ounce of gold.


Capo 2: 
   C                Am       Dm             G
  While hunting for Fox, we first came this way
       C             Am            Dm        G
  From Lake Pembroke's township took many long day
      C               Am         Dm           G
  To cut through the bush and we found a new rush
         Am               G      Am
  With a mine called the Gin and Raspberry

Chorus
   C           Am    Dm        G
  Oh but it's hard, cruel and cold
   C         Am           Dm         G
  Searching Cardrona for nuggets of gold
      C           Am               Dm             G
  An ounce to the bucket and we'll all sell our souls
        Am             G      Am
  For a taste of the Gin and Raspberry

  The rumours went out and the thousands poured in
  A handful grew rich and many grew thin
  They all hoped to find their own patch of tin
  As rich as the Gin and Raspberry  
  Oh but it's hard . . .

  At first it was summer, and we all thought it grand
  No shirts on our backs as we sluiced and we panned
  But then came the snow and the southern winds blow
  And there's ice down the Gin and Raspberry
  Oh but it's hard . . .

  (Young) Billy McGrath, he worked hard and worked long
  (Always) ready to smile and to sing us a song
  But then he struck gold and was found dead and cold
  Down in the Gin and Raspberry

  So I'll work out my time and I'll stay out of strife
  I'll save all me tin to send home to me wife 
  And when the job's done, I'll leave at the run
  And to hell with the Gin and Raspberry.
  Oh but it's hard . . .

  Come and drink up your Gin and Raspberry.


Graham Wilson published a songster with the version below, before Martin   
had produced his own LP.  A lot of people have followed the Wilson version.
  Am                      Dm               G
  Searching for Fox, we first came up this way
         Am                           F          G
  From Lake Pembroke's township took many a long day
    Am                            Dm          G
 To cut through the bush 'til we found a new rush
          F             G      Am
  And we called it the Gin and Raspberry

   C          Em     F          G
  Oh but it's hard, cruel and cold
   C         Am           F          G
  Searching Cardrona for nuggets of gold
     C            Am                F           G
  An ounce to the bucket and we'll all sell our soul
          F           G      Am
  For a taste of the Gin and Raspberry

An Australian adaptation

It was easy to adapt Martin's song to tell the story of a similar gold rush in Australia.

When gold was found high in the Snowy Mountains in 1859, the town of Kiandra quickly sprang up, as 15,000 miners and shop-keepers quickly extracted the easy-to-find gold. Most miners had moved on to Otago in New Zealand by 1862, and Chinese miners struggled to extract the remaining gold.

The last mine closed in 1905, and by then Kiandra, with deep snow and temperatures of -15 deg C in winter, had become Australia's first skiing centre. Now the ski facilities have moved elsewhere, and Kiandra is part of a National Park.
Searching for cattle - we first came this way,
From Talbingo township took many long days
To cut through the scrub till we found a good claim
And we called it the Rum and Raspberry.

The rumours went out and thousands poured in;
A handful grew rich while many grew thin.
They all hoped to find their own patch of ground
As rich as the Rum and Raspberry.

Chorus:
But oh how it's hard, cruel and cold
Searching Kiandra for nuggets of gold;
An ounce to a bucket - we'll all sell our souls
For the taste of the Rum and Raspberry.

At first it was summer, we all thought it grand;
No shirts on our backs as we sluiced and we panned -
But then came the snow and the westerly blow
And there's ice down the Rum and Raspberry.

Chorus: But oh how it's hard ...

Jimmy McGrath, he worked hard and worked long
Ready to smile or to sing us a song,
But then he struck gold and was found dead and cold
Down in the Rum and Raspberry.

Chorus: But oh how it's hard ...

I'll work out my time and I'll stay out of strife,
Save all me tin to send home to me wife
And when me time's done, I'll leave on the run
And to hell with the Rum and Raspberry.

Chorus: But oh how it's hard ...
But to hell with the Rum and Raspberry!

The Ballad Writers' Toolbox

Which of these contributes most to this ballad's is success ?

1. Simple storyline and chord structure, but with surprise changes.
2. People remember the much repeated "taste of the gin and raspberry"
3. It lingers on vivid details, then leaps, eg to "...found dead and cold."
4. The chorus unites the audience emotionally as they sing along.
5. It has a definite beginning and ending.
6. Average singers can sing it, and play its chords.
7. The leaping 6/8 rhythm is a challenge for guitar accompanists.
8. Martin has personal experience of this area.
9. The theme of "risky wealth v. secure family life" is relevant today.

Mail me

Gin and Raspberry on Record

New Zealand
'Billy on The Boil' Graham Wilson (LP1980)
'Paths' Martin Curtis (compilation LP 1981)
'Gin and Raspberry' (LP 1983, cassette 1988?)
'One For You' Mike Harding (cass1989)
'Below the High Country' Martin Curtis (CD 1998)

USA
'Mineapolis Concert'  Gordon Bok, Ann Muir & Ed Trickett. ( LP 1987)
'Brave Boys'   The Rounders, Hank Cramer and Steve Guthe. (CD 2001)

England
Damian Barber
'High and Dry' Jessica Bryan,Tom Clunie and Malcolm Rigby ( CD 2004)
'Rum and Raspberry' Jeff Wesley (CD 2005)

Canada
'Get On With It' Fear of Drinking (cassette)
(This also has other NZ ballads on it: Flanagan, Dry Cardrona, The Magpie.)

Australia
'Australian Tradition' Wongawilli
("searching Kiandra for nuggets of gold
...and a taste of the Rum and Raspberry")

There have been many more since I compiled this list in 1999. (JA 2023)

Martin Curtis on Record

Paths, (compilation LP 1981)
Gin and Raspberry, (LP 1983, cassette 1988?)
Back from the Hills, (cassette 1985)
The Daisy Patch, (cassette 1988?)
Save The Wilderness, (cassette 1995)
Below The High Country (CD 1998) -the best of the above records.

Full details of Martin's albums

Martin Curtis

Martin is an English migrant who lived at Cardrona for nearly 5 decades, not far from Wanaka.

Martin worked there for years as a rural delivery postman and mountain guide, but in 1998 he become a fulltime ballardeer singing to the tourists at Queenstown, to South Island school history classes and at folk clubs and festivals in England and other countries.

He is a gentle, lovely man, with a range of singing that can take you from the heartfelt abandonment of shipwrecked Davy Lowston (at a 2pm workshop), to the mystery of Ghost Gulls (at an 8pm concert), and on to the joyful bawdiness of "Oi arm a farmer's boy, Oi, Yar" (at a 2am jam session).

His Gin and Raspberry has been the most popular song in NZ folk music of the last 40 years, and one of Martin Curtis's many fine ballads. (My other favourite is Jack's Song) Other excellent musicians have been drawn to record these songs with him, resulting in a series of albums that have become collector's items.

He organised a folk festival at Cardrona every Labour Week-end
(in October) for 46 years, from a casual visit by Dunedin folkies in 1977 to the final booked-out event in 2022.

Martin and his wife now live in Alexandra
Email: martincurtisnz (at) gmail.com
You can find more details on Martin's own website

Song List - Copyright - Home

This page was made in 1999, updated in 2000 and 2004,
and revised in 2011 and 2023