Banjo Patterson

            Banjo Patterson's original name given to him was Andrew Barton Paterson. He was born in 1864 at Namable, near Orange in New South Wales. He died at a private hospital in Sydney Wednesday afternoon 5th of February 1941 after about a fortnight's battle with illness. He was 77 years old.
             He spent his early years growing up on his family station becoming familiar with and learning the ways of the drovers, teamsters and other bush workers. His parents, Andrew Bogle and Rose Isabella Paterson were graziers. His early education took place at home under the supervision of a tutor and then attended the bush school in Binalong. From the age of 10 he attended the Sydney Grammar School. After completing school, he was 16 years old when he was articled to a Sydney firm of solicitors. In 1886 he was acknowledged as a solicitor and formed the legal partnership, Street and Paterson. During those years, he began publishing verses in the bulletin and Sydney mail under the name "B" and "Banjo".
             During his younger years, his father, from a Scottish background took the opportunity to teach his son the traditional Scottish ballads which later on influenced him to write traditional songs. He was also inspired to write poems as his Grandmother also wrote poetry.
             In 1895, at the age of 31 and still in partnership with Street, he achieved two milestones in Australian writing. He composed his famous ballad "Waltzing Matilda" and his first book, the "Man from Snowy River". Marking the beginning of a new era in Australian publishing. His first publication sold out its first edition within a week and went through four editions in six months. Making Paterson the second most popular among living poets followed by Kipling.
             In South Africa during the Boer war, 1899, he was a war correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald Sun. He was then assigned to China in 1901, to report on the Boxer Rebellion, however the uprising of the war had ceased.