A Bushman's Song Explained

"A Bushman's Song" (1892) is a poem by Australian poet A. B. Paterson.^[1]

It was originally published in The Bulletin on 24 December 1892, with the title "Travelling Down the Castlereagh", and subsequently reprinted in a collection of the author's poems, other newspapers and periodicals and a number of Australian poetry anthologies.

Critical reception

While reviewing the poet's collection The Man From Snowy Rover and Other Verses a reviewer in The Sydney Morning Herald noted: "In poems such as 'The Travelling Post-office,' 'Clancy of the Overflow,' 'On Kiley's Run,' 'Black Swans,' 'In the Droving Days,' 'A Bushman's Song,' 'The 'Wind's Message,' 'The Daylight is Dying,' and a few others, one finds the authentic transcript of the moods of inland Australia, the life of her people, and sometimes in their own words."^[2]

The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature states: "In 'A Bushman's Song' [Paterson] is the radical, putting the case for the ordinary drover and shearer against the squatter and the absentee landlord."^[3]

Publication history

After the poem's initial publication in The Bulletin it was reprinted as follows:

• The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, 1895
• The Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson : Containing 'The Man from Snowy River', 'Rio Grande' and 'Saltbush Bill, M.P.', 1921^[4]
• The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse edited by Walter Murdoch, 1924 [Note: not included in 1918 edition.]
• New Song in an Old Land edited by Rex Ingamells, 1943^[5]
• Spoils of Time : Some Poems of the English Speaking Peoples edited by Rex Ingamells, 1948^[6]
• The Bulletin 11 May 1955, with the title "Travelling Down the Castlereagh"
• The Boomerang Book of Australian Poetry edited by Enid Moodie Heddle, 1956^[7]
• Favourite Australian Poems edited by Ian Mudie, Rigby, 1963^[8]
• The Penguin Australian Song Book edited by J. S. Manifold, 1964^[9]
• From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore, Angus & Robertson, 1964^[10]
• Folk Songs of Australia and the Men and Women Who Sang Them edited by John Meredith and Hugh Anderson, 1967^[11]
• The Overlander Songbook edited by Ronald George Edwards, 1971^[12]
• Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum edited by Geoffrey Dutton, 1976^[13]
• Singer of the Bush, A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Complete Works 1885-1900 edited by Rosamund Campbell and Philippa Harvie, 1983^[14]
• Duke of the Outback : The Adventures of "A Shearer Named Tritton" by Duke Tritton and John Meredith^[15]
• The Bushwackers Australian Song Book edited by Jan Wositzky and Dobe Newton, 1988^[16]
• A Treasury of Bush Verse edited by G. A. Wilkes, 1991^[17]
• Selected Poems : A. B. Paterson edited by Les Murray, 1992^[18]
• A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Bush Ballads, Poems, Stories and Journalism edited by Clement Semmler, 1992^[19]
• The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads edited by Elizabeth Webby and Philip Butterss, Penguin, 1993^[20]
• Banjo Paterson : His Poetry and Prose edited by Richard Hall, 1993^[21]
• The Collected Verse of Banjo Paterson edited by Clement Semmler, 1993^[22]
• Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology edited by John Leonard, Melbourne University Press, 1998^[23]
• Classic Australian Verse edited by Maggie Pinkney, Five Mile Press, 2001^[24]

See also

• 1892 in Australian literature
• 1892 in poetry

Notes and References

1. Web site: Austlit — "A Bushman's Song" by A. B. Paterson . Austlit. 22 September 2023.
2. Web site: "Current Literature" . The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 October 1895, p4. 22 September 2023.
3. The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature edited by Wilde, Hooton and Andrews, 2nd edition, p550
4. Web site: Austlit — The Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson, 1921. Austlit. 22 September 2023.
5. Web site: New Song in an Old Land (Longmans, Green) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
6. Web site: Spoils of Time : Some Poems of the English Speaking Peoples (Georgian House) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
7. Web site: The Boomerang Book of Australian Poetry (Longmans, Green) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
8. Web site: Favourite Australian Poems (Rigby) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
9. Web site: The Penguin Australian Song Book (Penguin Books) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
10. Web site: From the Ballads to Brennan (A&R) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
11. Web site: Folk Songs of Australia and the Men and Women Who Sang Them (Ure Smith) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
12. Web site: The Overlander Songbook (publisher) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
13. Web site: Australian Verse from 1805 : A Continuum (Rigby) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
14. Web site: Singer of the Bush, A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Complete Works 1885-1900 (Lansdowne) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
15. Web site: Duke of the Outback : The Adventures of "A Shearer Named Tritton" (publisher) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
16. Web site: The Bushwackers Australian Song Book (Sphere) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
17. Web site: A Treasury of Bush Verse (A&R) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
18. Web site: Selected Poems : A. B. Paterson (A&R) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
19. Web site: A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Bush Ballads, Poems, Stories and Journalism (UQP) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
20. Web site: The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads (Penguin) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
21. Web site: Banjo Paterson : His Poetry and Prose (Allen & Unwin) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
22. Web site: The Collected Verse of Banjo Paterson (Viking O'Neill) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
23. Web site: Australian Verse : An Oxford Anthology (MUP) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.
24. Web site: Classic Australian Verse (Five Mile Press) . National Library of Australia. 22 September 2023.