Rediscovering The Old Bush Songs of Banjo Paterson

In 1905, acclaimed Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson published a collection titled “The Old Bush Songs” aiming to preserve the traditional folk songs and ballads of Australia’s pioneering days.

This songbook gathers rough-hewn verses celebrating the spirit of drovers, diggers, shearers, and outback dwellers during the nation’s frontier era. It provides a window into the music and ethos of the bush when such folksy songs were staples around campfires or in raucous gold rush pubs.

According to Paterson’s preface, these old bush compositions were falling out of memory as rural life modernized with deeper mines, contract shearing, cattle trains, and news proliferation. Thus, his songbook serves as a treasure trove rescuing Australia’s early colonial heritage.

Its contents present an uncensored, unvarnished portrayal of outback existence from those who lived it first-hand. The straightforward lyrics chronicle labour and leisure, loves and losses, with vivid slang. Even their rough metre and irregular rhymes reflect the authenticity.

While authorship is often unclear, Paterson pieced together what he could verify were the most genuine campfire-forged bush songs. He aimed to preserve their original spirit rather than polish them. What results is a distinct snapshot of Australia’s formative years through the music of its trails and trenches.

With wry humour, bold characters, shearers, roving horses and more, “The Old Bush Songs” inspired nostalgia in early 20th century readers. Today, historians praise its cultural insights. Admirers of Banjo Paterson’s own bush ballads will find the roots of his rhythms echoed through these pages.

Much has changed in Australia since these old bush songs were penned, but Paterson’s lyrics continue to resonate as a soulful homage to the nation’s free-wheeling frontier past.

CONTENTS

TWO ABORIGINAL SONGS
PADDY MALONE IN AUSTRALIA
THE OLD BULLOCK DRAY
PADDY’S LETTER, 1857
THE OLD BARK HUT
THE OLD SURVEY
DWELL NOT WITH ME
THE BEAUTIFUL LAND OF AUSTRALIA
ON THE ROAD To GUNDAGAI
FLASH JACK FROM GUNDAGAI
ANOTHER FALL OF RAIN
BOLD JACK DONAHOO
THE WILD COLONIAL BOY
JOHN GILBERT (BUSHRANGER)
IMMIGRATION
THE SQUATTER’S MAN
THE STRINGY BARK COCKATOO
THE EUMERELLA SHORE
JIMMY SAGO JACKAROO
THE PLAINS OF RIVERINE
THE SHEEP- WASHERS’ LAMENT
THE BROKEN-DOWN SQUATTER
THE FREE SELECTOR
A NATIONAL SONG FOR AUSTRALIA FELIX
SUNNY NEW SOUTH WALES
BRINGING HOME THE COWS
THE DYING STOCKMAN
MY MATE BILL
SAM HOLT
THE BUSHMAN
HAWKING
COLONIAL EXPERIENCE
THE STOCKMEN OF AUSTRALIA
IT’S ONLY A WAY HE’S GOT
THE LOAFER’S CLUB
THE OLD KEG OF RUM
THE MURRUMBIDGEE SHEARER
THE SWAGMAN
THE STOCKMAN
THE MARANOA DROVERS
RIVER BEND
SONG OF THE SQUATTER
WALLABI JOE
THE SQUATTER OF THE OLDEN TIME
THE STOCKMAN’S LAST BED
MUSTERING SONG
THE AUSTRALIAN STOCKMAN
THE SHEPHERD
THE OVERLANDER
A THOUSAND MILES AWAY
THE FREEHOLD ON THE PLAIN
THE WALLABY BRIGADE
MY RELIGION
BOURKE’S DREAM
BILLY BARLOW IN AUSTRALIA