
A.B. Paterson
(Banjo) photograph neg.4057 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). |