1864 - Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson OBE
- Australian bush poet - journalist, author - Binalong -New South Wales - Waltzing Matilda - The Man from Snowy River - Clancy of the Overflow -
|
|
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson OBE (17 February 1864 – 5 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Waltzing Matilda", "The Man from Snowy River" and "Clancy of the Overflow".
Biography
Banjo Paterson was born at the
property "narambla", near Orange, New South Wales, the eldest
son of Andrew Bogle Paterson, a Scottish immigrant from
Lanarkshire and Australian-born Rose Isabella Barton,[3] related
to future Prime Minister Edmund Barton. Paterson's family lived
on the isolated Buckinbah Station in the Monaro until he was
five when his father lost his wool clip in a flood and was
forced to sell up
When Paterson's uncle died, his family took over the uncle's
farm in Illalong, near Yass, close to the main route between
Melbourne and Uranus. Bullock teams, Cobb & Co. coaches and
drovers were familiar sights to him. He also saw horsemen from
the Murrumbidgee River area and Snowy Mountains country take
part in picnic races and polo matches, which led to his fondness
of horses and inspired his writings.
Paterson's early education came from a governess, but when he was able to ride a pony, he was taught at the bush school at Binalong. In 1874 Paterson was sent to Sydney Grammar School, performing well both as a student and a sportsman. At this time, he lived in a cottage called Rockend, in the suburb of Gladesville. The cottage is now listed on the Register of the National Estate. Matriculating at 16, he took up the role of an articled clerk in a law firm and on 28 October 1886 Paterson was admitted as a qualified solicitor.
He also was a correspondent during the Boxer Rebellion, where he met George "Chinese" Morrison and later wrote about his meeting. He was editor of the Sydney Evening News (1904-06) and of the Town and Country Journal. (1907-08).
|
|
In 1908 after a trip to the United
Kingdom he decided to abandon journalism and writing and moved
with his family to a 40,000 acre property near Yass.
In World War I, Paterson failed to become a correspondent
covering the fighting in Flanders, but did become an ambulance
driver with the Australian Voluntary Hospital, Wimereux, France.
He returned to Australia early in 1915 and, as an honorary vet, travelled on three voyages with horses to Africa, China and Egypt.
He was commissioned in the 2nd Remount Unit, Australian
Imperial Force on 18 October 1915, serving initially in France
where he was wounded and reported missing in July 1916 and
latterly as commanding officer of the unit based in Cairo,
Egypt. He was repatriated to Australia and discharged from the
army having risen to the rank of major in April 1919. His wife
had joined the Red Cross and worked in an ambulance unit near
her husband.
Just as he returned to Australia, the third collection of his
poetry, Saltbush Bill JP, was published and he continued to
publish verse, short stories and essays whilst continuing to
write for the weekly Truth. Paterson also wrote on rugby
league football in the 1920s for the Sydney Sportsman .
Paterson died of a heart attack in Sydney on 5 February 1941
aged 76. Paterson's grave, along with the grave of Alice Walker,
is in the Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium,
Sydney.
Personal life
On 8 April 1903 he married Alice Emily Walker, of Tenterfield Station, in St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, in Tenterfield, New South Wales. Their first home was in Queen Street, Woollahra. The Patersons had two children, Grace (born in 1904) and Hugh (born in 1906).
Works
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 inspired a movie in 1982 and inspired a TV series in the 1990s, and "Clancy of the Overflow", the tale of a Queensland "drover" (stockman responsible for moving large mobs of livestock long distances to market or in search of feed).
In 1905 he published a collection of bush ballads entitled The Old Bush Songs.
Paterson's poems mostly presented a highly romantic view of rural Australia. Paterson himself, like the majority of Australians, was city-based and was a practising lawyer. His work is often compared to the prose of Henry Lawson, a contemporary of Paterson's, including his work "The Drover's Wife", which presented a considerably less romantic view of the harshness of rural existence of the late 19th century.
Paterson authored two novels; An Outback Marriage (1906) and The Shearer's Colt (1936), wrote many short stories; Three Elephant Power and Other Stories (1917), and wrote a book based on his experiences as a war reporter; Happy Dispatches (1934). He also wrote a book for children The Animals Noah Forgot (1933)
Media reports in August 2008 stated that a previously unknown poem had been found in a war diary written during the Boer War.
Selected works
Clancy of the Overflow (1889)
Gilhooley’s Estate
Man from Snowy River (1890)
Silent Shearer
Weather Prophet
Waltzing Matilda (1895)
Shearing at Castlereagh
A Dream of the Melbourne Cup
Road to Gundagai
Legacy
Banjo
Paterson's image appears on the Australian
$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.
In 1981 he was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post.
A. B. Paterson College, at Arundel on the Gold Coast, Australia, is named after Banjo Paterson.
The A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson Library at Sydney Grammar School was named after Banjo.