Andrew Barton Paterson born Feb 17th 1864 at narambla in newsouth wales. His early life was spent in NSW where he met colourful bushcharacters he later wrote about. He was schooled in Sydney Grammar and left at age 16 to b e an article clerk in a Sydney Lawyers office. The first ballad he ever had published was in The Bulletin (a popular and influential newspaper) in Feb of 1885, under the alias The Banjo. "The Banjo" was the name of a racehorse Andrew's father onced owned. It was not until ten years after his ballad was published in The Bulletin that the public finally discovered his real name. The man from snowy river and other verses were published in the Bulletin in 1895. Despite being a practicing lawyer he made frequent visits to remote bushlands in queensland and the northern territory.
             His links with The Bulletin prompted The Sydney Morning Herald and The argus to send him to the Boer War in South africa as a war correspondent in 1900 and 1901.In 1901 Paterson went to China on another commision to report on ther aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion. Durin 1903 he became the editor of the Sydney Evening News and also married Alice Walker, then in 1908 he and his family left Sydney to go live in and run a grazing property near Yass in southern NSW.
             With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Paterson enlisted in the Austrailan Imperial Forces (AIF) and became a major in the First Australian Remount unit. This was a unit of horsemen from the bush and the racetrack whose job was to train mounts for the Australian Light Horse,which, because of his skill with both men and horses, earned Paterson quite alot of respect.
             I chose to do my essay on Andrew Barton Paterson because he was a greatly outspoken man and touched many people with his words. Loved throughout the world he will always be remembered, and the impression he made on the Australian spirit will live on.
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