| "The Man From Ironbark" | |
|---|---|
| by A. B. Paterson | |
 | |
| Written | 1892 |
| First published in | The Bulletin |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Publication date | 17 December 1892 |
| Full text | |
 The Man From Ironbark at Wikisource | |
"The Man From Ironbark" is a poem by Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson (Andrew Barton Paterson). [1] It is written in the iambic heptameter.
It was first published in The Bulletin on 17 December 1892.
The poem relates the experiences of a man from the Bush who visits Sydney and becomes the subject of a practical joke by a mischievous barber. The barber pretends to cut the bushman's throat by slashing his newly-shaven neck using the back of his cut-throat razor that had been heated in boiling water. While making his displeasure known,
A peeler man [i.e. policeman] who heard the din came in to see the show;
He tried to run the bushman in, but he refused to go.
The barber confesses that he was playing a joke, and the bushman, unconvinced, returns to Ironbark, where, due to his accounts of his Sydney experiences, "flowing beards are all the go".
There are obvious echoes in the poem of the urban legend of the murdering barber - fictionalised in the penny dreadful The String of Pearls which featured the notorious Sweeney Todd.
Ironbark was the earlier name for Stuart Town, a town in the Central West region of New South Wales. [2]
In 2004, a representative of The Wilderness Society posed as "The Ghost of the Man from Ironbark", a reference to the poem, to campaign for the protection of the remaining Ironbark woodlands in New South Wales and Queensland. [3]
A writer in The Herald from Melbourne noted, after Paterson's death, that the poem "will remain a gem to the Outback as long as the Outback exists." [4]
The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature states: "In ironbark the oft-told story reinforces traditional bush suspicion of the city and leads to a pronounced fashion in beards." [5]
After its original publication in The Bulletin the poem was also included in the following anthologies, among others:
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and "Waltzing Matilda" (1895), regarded widely as Australia's unofficial national anthem.
"Freedom on the Wallaby", Henry Lawson's well known poem, was written as a comment on the 1891 Australian shearers' strike and published by William Lane in The Worker in Brisbane, 16 May 1891.
Up The Country is a popular poem by iconic Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 9 July 1892, under the title Borderland, and started the Bulletin Debate, a series of poems by both Lawson and Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson about the true nature of life in the Australian bush.
In Defence of the Bush is a popular poem by Australian writer and poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 23 July 1892 in reply to fellow poet Henry Lawson's poem, Up The Country. Paterson's rebuttal sparked the Bulletin Debate, a series of poems by both Lawson and Paterson about the true nature of life in the Australian bush.
The City Bushman is a poem by iconic Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 6 August 1892, under the title In Answer to "Banjo", and Otherwise. It was the fourth work in the Bulletin Debate, a series of poems by both Lawson and Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, and others, about the true nature of life in the Australian bush.
"Bell-Birds" is a poem by Australian writer Henry Kendall that was first published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 25 November 1867.
In Answer to Various Bards is a poem by Australian writer and poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 1 October 1892 in reply to fellow poet Henry Lawson's poem, In Answer to "Banjo", and Otherwise.
The Poets of the Tomb is a poem by Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 8 October 1892 in reply to fellow poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson's poem, In Answer to Various Bards.
Saltbush Bill is a humorous poem by Australian writer and poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. It was first published in The Bulletin magazine on 15 December 1894, the Christmas issue of that publication.
The Women of the West is a poem by Australian poet George Essex Evans. It was first published in The Argus newspaper on 7 September 1901, and later in the poet's poetry collection The Secret Key and Other Verses (1906).
The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses (1895) is the first collection of poems by Australian poet Banjo Paterson. It was released in hardback by Angus and Robertson in 1895, and features the poet's widely anthologised poems "The Man from Snowy River", "Clancy of the Overflow", "Saltbush Bill" and "The Man from Ironbark". It also contains the poet's first two poems that featured in The Bulletin Debate, a famous dispute in The Bulletin magazine from 1892-93 between Paterson and Henry Lawson.
The Teams is a poem by Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in the Australian Town and Country Journal on 21 December 1889. It was later published in the poet's poetry collection In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses in 1896.
"Crime in the Bush" (1899) is a dramatic essay by the Australian writer Henry Lawson.
"The Never-Never Country" (1901) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson. It is also known by the title "The Never-Never Land".
"Faces in the Street" (1888) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson.
"The Song of Old Joe Swallow" (1890) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson.
"Song of the Shingle Splitters" (1874) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Kendall.
"How M'Dougal Topped The Score" (1898) is a poem by Australian poet Thos. E. Spencer.
"A Bushman's Song" (1892) is a poem by Australian poet A. B. Paterson.
"The Roaring Days" (1889) is a poem by Australian poet Henry Lawson.