Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay

Here comes an old soldier from Botany Bay,
Have you got anything to give him to-day?

Mentions of children's games in the late 19th century describe it as a call and response game where others take turns to respond to the singer, with a prohibition of predetermined taboo words, typically yes, no, black, white, grey and sometimes other colours.^[1] The child playing the soldier may beg items of clothing and then ask what colours they are, or otherwise enter into a conversation in the hope that the child questioned will forget what has been agreed, in which case they must pay a forfeit^[1] or in some versions take on the role of the soldier.^[2][3]

G. K. Chesterton wrote of the poem as a "beggars' rhyme" during his childhood in late nineteenth-century London, and quoted the words as thus:

Here comes a poor soldier from Botany Bay:
What have you got to give him to-day?^[4]

Various other games incorporating the rhyme emerged in the twentieth century, most local adaptations that replaced the "old soldier from Botany Bay" with an "old woman from Botany Bay."^[5]

In another version of the game, the player responding must also remember and correctly name all previous items given to the old soldier, before adding a new one to the list in their response.^{[citation needed]} This is similar to the game of "I packed my bag".