Tijdens een bezoek aan het Lake District Museum in Arrowtown, Nieuw Zeeland, kwam ik in aanraking met het verhaal van Little Biddy from the Buller, de bijnaam van Bridget Goodwin. Een kranige dame die tijdens de goudkoorts haar mannetje stond in de kloof van de rivier de Buller. Bridget rookte pijp en hield wel van een drankje. Ze was al vroeg weduwe geworden maar zette het werk op zoek naar goud voort. Een deel van de tekst komt uit het krantenartikel wat in 1899 verscheen, toen Biddy op onbekende leeftijd overleed.

Tekst:

She was four feet high, weight seven stone
Slight in figure, but well formed
Looking from the distance as if she were buta child

Furrows on her sun burnt face
her hair in tails of iron grey
The washed out expression of her faraway blue eyes

And she said: one fine day, I’m gonna find me gold
all along this stream my story’s told
about a girl once young turned grey and old
One fine day I’me gonna find me gold

She worked like a human dredge machine
scooped up the sands from the river stream
From the waters of the Buller to the rush of Collingwood
She was a genuine-hearted little soul
Worked the Buller River to and fro
She lost her two companions, but did not lose her attitude

And she said: One fine day, I’m gonna find me gold
all along this stream my story’s told
about a girl once young turned grey and old
One fine day I’m gonna find me gold

After the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Little Biddy slept the sleep She was laid to rest in the graveyard of the new cemetery And when they excavate the hole The digger saw the metal glow Biddy finally find her gold left for all the world to see

And she said: One fine day, I’m gonna find me gold
all along this stream my story’s told
about a girl once young turned grey and old
One fine day I’m gonna find me gold
all along this stream my story’s told
about a girl once young turned grey and old
One fine day I’m gonna find me gold
One fine day I’m gonna find me gold

Muzikanten:

Marrit van Brummelen: zang & gitaar
Frank Kooijman: zang & banjo
Kas van Diepen: zang & contrabas
Arnoud Deyll: mondharmonica
Eric Dillisse: drums
Jaap Berends: gitaren
Tessa Zoutendijk: viool