Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson was born in 1864 and was most famously known for writing the poem ‘Waltzing Matilda’ which he wrote in late 1895. Aside from being a poet, Banjo was known for being a public solicitor, journalist, war correspondent and a soldier fighting primarily in World War I. Banjo had a life full of achievements and experienced great success with his poems but he has taken a lot of criticism throughout his life about his depiction of rural Australia. So was Andrew Barton (Banjo) Paterson a national icon or a national embarrassment and does he deserve to have his face on the current $10 note?
Banjo had a very eventful life and was educated from a young age. At the age of 16 Banjo took up the role of an articled clerk in a …show more content…
This book later became the most sold collection of Australian bush poetry. His success from ‘The Man from Snowy River’ was so renowned that an illustration inspired by the poem was featured on the Australian $10 note and with a micro print of the text from the poem itself on the note. The reason this poem is so renowned is because it helped non-Australians and ‘city people’ get a picture of what true Australian outback is like and form an opinion of what it would be like to live in the country, Banjo does this through “referencing various familiar Australian scenes, locations and even plant species… brumbies, plains, wombats, homesteads and mountains, using these words helps establish a setting for the story”. (Ebony Inkwell, …show more content…
Many in the past and even today still consider this poem “Australians national song and poem” (Heather Blakey, 2016). Much like ‘The Man from Snowy River’, ‘Waltzing Matilda depicts true outback which is expressed in the first stanza of the poem in which Banjo depicts the “swagman camped in the Billabong, Under the shade of the Coolabah tree” (Saltbush Bill, J.P. and Other Verses, 1917) but setting the scene of rural Australian outback isn’t the message Banjo is trying to get across in this poem, the message Banjo is sending to the reader in this poem is that “some would rather die a free man having spent their life wandering the Australian outback then to die a prisoner” (Healther Blakey, 2016). It’s a truly inspirational poem about living off the grid and living with a free
Banjo had a very eventful life and was educated from a young age. At the age of 16 Banjo took up the role of an articled clerk in a …show more content…
This book later became the most sold collection of Australian bush poetry. His success from ‘The Man from Snowy River’ was so renowned that an illustration inspired by the poem was featured on the Australian $10 note and with a micro print of the text from the poem itself on the note. The reason this poem is so renowned is because it helped non-Australians and ‘city people’ get a picture of what true Australian outback is like and form an opinion of what it would be like to live in the country, Banjo does this through “referencing various familiar Australian scenes, locations and even plant species… brumbies, plains, wombats, homesteads and mountains, using these words helps establish a setting for the story”. (Ebony Inkwell, …show more content…
Many in the past and even today still consider this poem “Australians national song and poem” (Heather Blakey, 2016). Much like ‘The Man from Snowy River’, ‘Waltzing Matilda depicts true outback which is expressed in the first stanza of the poem in which Banjo depicts the “swagman camped in the Billabong, Under the shade of the Coolabah tree” (Saltbush Bill, J.P. and Other Verses, 1917) but setting the scene of rural Australian outback isn’t the message Banjo is trying to get across in this poem, the message Banjo is sending to the reader in this poem is that “some would rather die a free man having spent their life wandering the Australian outback then to die a prisoner” (Healther Blakey, 2016). It’s a truly inspirational poem about living off the grid and living with a free