PATERSON, ANDREW BARTON (1864-1941), poet, solicitor, journalist, war
correspondent and soldier, was born on 17 February 1864 at Narrambla near Orange,
New South Wales, eldest of seven children of Andrew Bogle Paterson (d.1889),
grazier, and his native-born wife Rose Isabella, daughter of Robert Barton of
Boree Nyrang station, near Orange. His father, a lowland Scot, had migrated to New
South Wales about 1850, eventually taking up Buckinbah station at Obley in the
Orange district.
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Australian Dictionary of Biography
Famous Federation period journalist, author and balladist, is believed (not confirmed) to have supplied sketches as well as reports of the Boer War
journalist, author and balladist, is believed (not confirmed) to have supplied sketches as well as reports of the Boer War {and the Boxer Rebellion in China?} to the Sydney Morning Herald in 1899-1900, acc. Greenwall, p.182. This entry is a stub. You can help DAAO by submitting a biography.
Flourished
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Design and Art Australia Online
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson is considered to be one of Australia's most influential and prolific poets and bush balladeers. He was born into a family of graziers and from an early age he developed a love for horses. The pseudonym "Banjo" was taken from the name of one of his father's racehorses. Paterson was one of seven children born to Scottish immigrant Andrew Bogle and Rose Paterson (nee Barton), and grew up in the Yass district before being sent to school in Sydney. After finishing his education at Sydney Grammar School, Paterson pursued a career in law and became a practicing solicitor in 1886.
His first poem was published in The Bulletin in 1885 under the pseudonym Banjo Paterson and in 1895 he published The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, which proved to be an enormous success. During the same year he wrote what is now known as Australia's unofficial anthem Waltzing Matilda while on holiday in Queensland. After travelling to South Africa, England and China as a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Argus, Paterson returned to Australia where he married.
In 1905 he published Old Bush Songs which contained rare "traditional" folk ballads he had collected while travelling throughout New South Wales and Queensland. Paterson's literary ballads and collection of folk songs have become an important part of Australia's musical and cultural heritage. He is recognised as one of Australia's first folk song collectors and many of his original works have been put to music by composers and bush musicians alike. His writing has often been referred to as a mixture between the genres of the literary ballad and the bush song.
Paterson served in the First World War and on his return to Australia continued working as a journalist for a number of prominent Australian newspapers. At the age of 66 he retired and continued to write poetry, a novel, and a series of memoirs until his death in 1941.
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