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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 (AUD) $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.
External links
Paterson, Andrew Barton "Banjo"
Paterson, Andrew Barton "Banjo"
Paterson, Andrew Barton "Banjo"
