A Bushman's Song

"A Bushman's Song"
by A. B. Paterson
Original title	Travelling Down the Castlereagh
Written	1892
First published in	The Bulletin
Country	Australia
Language	English
Publication date	24 December 1892
Full text
A Bushman's Song at Wikisource

"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. ^[1]

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]
• From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore (1964)
• 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

References

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