Banjo Paterson

Who is Banjo Paterson?

Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson was born in 1864 at Narrambla, near Orange in New South Wales, and became one of Australia's most beloved bush poets and balladists. Trained as a solicitor, he turned to writing and journalism, publishing under the pen name "The Banjo" in The Bulletin. His 1895 collection The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses was an immediate success and captured the romance and hardship of rural colonial life. He is best remembered for writing the words to "Waltzing Matilda", widely regarded as Australia's unofficial national anthem, and for narrative poems such as "Clancy of the Overflow". Paterson also worked as a war correspondent during the Boer War. His image and lines from "The Man from Snowy River" appear on the Australian ten-dollar note, cementing his place in national culture.

Sources: A.B. Paterson, 'The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses' (1895) · A.B. Paterson, 'Waltzing Matilda' (song lyrics, 1895) · Australian Dictionary of Biography, entry 'Paterson, Andrew Barton (Banjo)'