A.B. ‘Banjo’ Paterson was born at Narrambla Station near Orange in New South Wales. He worked as a lawyer’s clerk before becoming a solicitor. After the publication of The Man From Snowy River and Other Verses in 1895, he became something of a celebrity, travelling widely throughout Australia. He was a war correspondent in the Boer War in South Africa, and covered the Boxer Rebellion in China.
He later became editor of the Sydney Evening News and then the Australian Town and Country Journal. During World War I, unable to get to the front in France, he joined the Remount Service in Australia which supplied horses for the cavalry in the Middle East.
After the War he returned to Sydney, journalism and writing poetry and prose. Paterson is best remembered as the author of Waltzing Matilda – Australia’s unofficial national anthem.
