Andrew Barton Paterson

Biography of Andrew Barton Paterson (1864 – 1941)

Andrew Barton Paterson
Andrew Barton Paterson (1864-1941)

Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson was a famous Australian poet. He was born at Narambla, near Orange, New South Wales on February 17, 1864 and died on April 5, 1941. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas.

One of his most famous poems is “Waltzing Matilda”, which was set to music and became one of Australia’s most famous songs. Others include “The Man From Snowy River”, which (loosely) inspired a movie in 1980 and (even more loosely) inspired a TV series in the 1990s, and “Clancy of the Overflow”, the tale of a Queensland “drover” (cattle handler responsible for herding large mobs of cattle long distances to market), amongst several others.

Paterson’s poems mostly presented a highly romantic view of rural Australia. Paterson himself, like a majority of Australians even then and even more so since, was city-based and indeed was a practising lawyer. One may contrast his work with the (almost as famous) prose of Henry Lawson, a contemporary of Paterson’s, including his work “The Drover’s Wife”, which presented a considerably less sugar-coated view of the harshness of rural existence of the late 19th century.

Banjo Paterson’s image appears on the (AUS – Australian Dollar) $10 note, along with an illustration inspired by “The Man From Snowy River” and, as part of the copy-protection microprint, the text of the poem itself.

Biography By: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on Andrew Barton Paterson.

Poems By Andrew Barton Paterson

Miscellaneous

“Ave Ceasar” (No Comments »)
“In re a Gentleman, One” (No Comments »)
“Shouting” for a Camel (No Comments »)
“We’re All Australians Now” (No Comments »)
A Ballad of Ducks (No Comments »)
A Bunch of Roses (No Comments »)
A Bush Christening (No Comments »)
A Bush Lawyer (No Comments »)
A Bushman’s Song (No Comments »)
A Change of Menu (No Comments »)
A Disqualified Jockey’s Story (No Comments »)
A Dog’s Mistake (No Comments »)
A Dream of the Melbourne Cup (No Comments »)
A Job for McGuinness (No Comments »)
A Motor Courtship (No Comments »)
A Mountain Station (No Comments »)
A Nervous Governor-General (No Comments »)
A Singer of the Bush (No Comments »)
A Song of the Pen (No Comments »)
A Triolet (No Comments »)
A Voice from the Town (No Comments »)
A Walgett Episode (No Comments »)
Ambition and Art (No Comments »)
An answer to Various Bards (No Comments »)
An Emu Hunt (No Comments »)
An Evening in Dandaloo (No Comments »)
An Idyll of Dandaloo (No Comments »)
Anthony Considine (No Comments »)
Any Other Time (No Comments »)
As Long as your Eyes are Blue (No Comments »)
At the Melting of the Snow (No Comments »)
Australia Today 1916 (No Comments »)
Australian Scenery (No Comments »)
Been There Before (No Comments »)
Behind the Scenes (No Comments »)
Black Harry’s Team (No Comments »)
Black Swans (No Comments »)
Boots (No Comments »)
Bottle ‘O’ (No Comments »)
Brumby’s Run (No Comments »)
Buffalo Country (No Comments »)
Bush Christening (No Comments »)
By the Grey Gulf-water (No Comments »)
Camouflage (No Comments »)
Cassidy’s Epitaph (No Comments »)
Clancy Of The Overflow (No Comments »)
Come-by-Chance (No Comments »)
Commandeering (No Comments »)
Conroy’s Gap (No Comments »)
Daylight is Dying (No Comments »)
Do They Know? (No Comments »)
Driver Smith (No Comments »)
El Mahdi to the Australian Troops (No Comments »)
Father Riley’s Horse (No Comments »)
Fed Up (No Comments »)
Frogs in chorus (No Comments »)
Frying Pan’s Theology (No Comments »)
Gilhooley’s Estate (No Comments »)
Gone Down (No Comments »)
Hard Luck (No Comments »)
Hawker, the Standard Bearer (No Comments »)
Hay and Hell and Booligal (No Comments »)
He Giveth His Beloved Sleep (No Comments »)
High Explosive (No Comments »)
How Gilbert Died (No Comments »)
How M’Ginnis went missing (No Comments »)
How The Favourite Beat Us (No Comments »)
In Defence of the Bush (No Comments »)
In the Droving Days (No Comments »)
In the Stable (No Comments »)
Investigating Flora (No Comments »)
It’s Grand (No Comments »)
Jim Carew (No Comments »)
Jimmy Dooley’s Army (No Comments »)
Jock (No Comments »)
Johnny Boer (No Comments »)
Johnson’s Antidote (No Comments »)
Last Week (No Comments »)
Lost (No Comments »)
Morgan’s Dog (No Comments »)
Moving On (No Comments »)
Mulga Bill’s Bicycle (No Comments »)
Mulligan’s Mare (No Comments »)
Not On It (No Comments »)
Now Listen to Me and I’ll Tell You My Views (No Comments »)
Old Pardon, the Son of Reprieve (No Comments »)
Old Schooldays (No Comments »)
On Kiley’s Run (No Comments »)
On the Trek (No Comments »)
Only a Jockey (No Comments »)
Opening of the Railway Line (No Comments »)
Our Mat (No Comments »)
Our New Horse (No Comments »)
Out of Sight (No Comments »)
Over The Range (No Comments »)
Pioneers (No Comments »)
Policeman G. (No Comments »)
Reconstruction (No Comments »)
Riders in the Stand (No Comments »)
Right in Front of the Army (No Comments »)
Rio Grande (No Comments »)
Rio Grande’s Last Race (No Comments »)
Saltbush Bill (No Comments »)
Saltbush Bill on the Patriarchs (No Comments »)
Saltbush Bill, J.P. (No Comments »)
Saltbush Bill’s Gamecock (No Comments »)
Saltbush Bill’s Second Flight (No Comments »)
Santa Claus (No Comments »)
Santa Claus in the Bush (No Comments »)
Shearing at Castlereagh (No Comments »)
Shearing With a Hoe (No Comments »)
Song of the Artesian Water (No Comments »)
Song of the Federation (No Comments »)
Song of the Future (No Comments »)
Song of the Wheat (No Comments »)
Sunrise on the Coast (No Comments »)
Swinging the Lead (No Comments »)
Sydney Cup 1899 (No Comments »)
T.y.s.o.n. (No Comments »)
Tar and Feathers (No Comments »)
That Half-Crown Sweep (No Comments »)
That V.C. (No Comments »)
The All Right Un (No Comments »)
The Amateur Rider (No Comments »)
The Angel’s Kiss (No Comments »)
The Army Mules (No Comments »)
The Ballad of Cockatoo Dock (No Comments »)
The Ballad of G. R. Dibbs (No Comments »)
The Ballad of M. T. Nutt and His Dog (No Comments »)
The Ballad of That P.N. (No Comments »)
The Ballad of the Calliope (No Comments »)
The Ballad of the Carpet Bag (No Comments »)
The Billy-Goat Overland (No Comments »)
The Boss of the Admiral Lynch (No Comments »)
The Bushfire – an Allegory (No Comments »)
The City of Dreadful Thirst (No Comments »)
The Corner Man (No Comments »)
The Dam that Keele Built (No Comments »)
The Dauntless Three (No Comments »)
The Daylight is Dying (No Comments »)
The Deficit Demon (No Comments »)
The Duties of an Aide-de-camp (No Comments »)
The Federal Bus Conductor and the Old Lady (No Comments »)
The First Surveyor (No Comments »)
The Fitzroy Blacksmith (No Comments »)
The Flying Gang (No Comments »)
The Geebung Polo Club (No Comments »)
The Ghost of the Murderer’s Hut (No Comments »)
The Great Calamity (No Comments »)
The Gundaroo Bullock (No Comments »)
The Hypnotist (No Comments »)
The Incantation (No Comments »)
The Last Parade (No Comments »)
The Last Trump (No Comments »)
The Lay of the Motor-Car (No Comments »)
The Lost Drink (No Comments »)
The Lost Leichardt (No Comments »)
The Lung Fish (No Comments »)
The Man from Goondiwindi, Q. (No Comments »)
The Man from Iron Bark (No Comments »)
The Man Who Was Away (No Comments »)
The Maori Pig Market (No Comments »)
The Maori’s Wool (No Comments »)
The Matrimonial Stakes (No Comments »)
The Mountain Squatter (No Comments »)
The Mylora Elopement (No Comments »)
The Old Australian Ways (No Comments »)
The Old Timer’s Steeplechase (No Comments »)
The Old Tin Hat (No Comments »)
The Open Steeplechase (No Comments »)
The Pannikin Poet (No Comments »)
The Passing of Gundagai (No Comments »)
The Pearl Diver (No Comments »)
The Plains (No Comments »)
The Premier and the Socialist (No Comments »)
The Protest (No Comments »)
The Quest Eternal (No Comments »)
The Reveille (No Comments »)
The Reverend Mullineux (No Comments »)
The Rhyme of the O’Sullivan (No Comments »)
The Road to Gundagai (No Comments »)
The Road to Hogan’s Gap (No Comments »)
The Road to Old Man’s Town (No Comments »)
The Rule of the A.J.C. (No Comments »)
The Rum Parade (No Comments »)
The Sausage Candidate-A Tale of the Elections (No Comments »)
The Scapegoat (No Comments »)
The Scorcher and the Howling Swell (No Comments »)
The Scottish Engineer (No Comments »)
The Seven Ages of Wise (No Comments »)
The Silent Shearer (No Comments »)
The Story of Mongrel Grey (No Comments »)
The Swagman’s Rest (No Comments »)
The Travelling Post Office (No Comments »)
The Two Devines (No Comments »)
The Wargeilah Handicap (No Comments »)
The Winds Message (No Comments »)
The Wreck of the Golfer (No Comments »)
There’s Another Blessed Horse Fell Down (No Comments »)
Those Names (No Comments »)
Tom Collins (No Comments »)
Tommy Corrigan (No Comments »)
Typographical (No Comments »)
Uncle Bill (No Comments »)
Under the Shadow of Kiley’s Hill (No Comments »)
Waltzing Matilda (No Comments »)
Weary Will (No Comments »)
What Have the Cavalry Done? (No Comments »)
When Dacey rode the Mule (No Comments »)
White Cockatoos (No Comments »)
Who is Kator Anyhow? (No Comments »)
Why the Jackass Laughs (No Comments »)
Wisdom of Hafiz: the Philosopher Takes to Racing (No Comments »)
With French to Kimberley (No Comments »)
With the Cattle (No Comments »)

Living Verse compiled by A.K.Thompson, Jacaranda Press

The Man From Ironbark (No Comments »)
The Man From Snowy River (No Comments »)