A.B. (Banjo) Paterson

A.B. Paterson (Banjo)
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National Library of Australia

THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA'S
FEDERATION GATEWAY


PATERSON, ANDREW BARTON (BANJO) (1864-1941)

He wrote poems and stories in the radical and nationalist tradition (as did his contemporary, Henry Lawson). Many had themes of a federated Australia. His writings continue to be popular and in print. He was born at Narambla, near Orange, N.S.W. on 17 February 1864.

Australian poet, lawyer and grazier, he was also a journalist, often reporting on the spot; as during the shearers strikes of the 1890s, the South African Anglo- Boer War (1899-1902) and the Middle East campaign of World War 1. He drove ambulances in France in World War I. He was made a CBE in 1930. In South Africa he wrote Song of the Federation in 1901.

Paterson is best known as a bush balladist; Clancy of the Overflow (1889); Man from Snowy River (1895). He gathered and published the first collection of Australian folk ballads 'The Old Bush Songs; (1905). He wrote for children, 'The Animals Noah Forgot(1933)', a poetry collection.

He is commemorated in the Banjo Paterson Award made biennially by the Orange Festival of Arts for one-act plays and poetry and the National Book Council's Banjo Awards made annually.
He was appointed CBE and died in Sydney on 5 February 1941.

Books of interest

Palmer, Helen G. (1966). Banjo Paterson. Great people in Australian history series. Melbourne: Longmans.

Roderick, Colin. (1993). Banjo Paterson: poet by accident. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Semmler, Clement. (1984). The Banjo of the bush: the life and times of AB Banjo Paterson. 2nd edition, Brisbane: Oxford University Press.

Paterson, A. B. (Andrew Barton). (1983). Complete works, 1885-1941. 2 volumes. Sydney: Lansdowne.

The National Library of Australia has over 200 of Paterson's books, manuscripts, and music, including pictorial items and several versions of Waltzing Matilda (1895).

 

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