Time for another Banjo Paterson poem, one of his lesser
known ones which folk musos Wallis and Matilda have put to music.
The Poet:
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson (1864 – 1941) was
an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. Paterson wrote many ballads and
poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback
areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent
much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of
the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and
"Waltzing Matilda" (1895), regarded widely as Australia's unofficial
national anthem.
Paterson was a law clerk with a Sydney-based firm and was
admitted as a solicitor in 1886. In the years he practised as a solicitor, he
also started writing. From 1885, he began submitting and having poetry
published in The Bulletin, a literary journal with a nationalist focus. Over
the next decade, Paterson published works in The Bulletin under the pseudonym
of "The Banjo", the name of his favourite horse.
The Poem:
The Man Who Was Away
-
Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson
The widow sought the lawyer's room with children three in
tow,
She told the lawyer man her tale in tones of deepest woe.
She said, "My husband took to drink for pains in his
inside,
And never drew a sober breath from then until he died.
"He never drew a sober breath, he died without a will,
And I must sell the bit of land the childer's mouth to fill.
There's some is grown and gone away, but some is childer
yet,
And times is very bad indeed -- a livin's hard to get.
"There's Min and Sis and little Chris, they stops at
home with me,
And Sal has married Greenhide Bill that breaks for Bidgeree.
And Fred is drovin' Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh
And Charley's shearin' down the Bland, and Peter is
away."
The lawyer wrote the details down in ink of legal blue --
"There's Minnie, Susan, Christopher, they stop at home
with you;
There's Sarah, Frederick and Charles, I'll write to them
today,
But what about the other son -- the one who is away?
"You'll have to furnish his consent to sell the bit of
land."
The widow shuffled in her seat, "Oh, don't you
understand?
I thought a lawyer ought to know -- I don't know what to say
--
You'll have to do without him, boss, for Peter is
away."
But here the little boy spoke up -- said he, "We
thought you knew;
He's done six months in Goulburn gaol -- he's got six more
to do."
Thus in one comprehensive flash he made it clear as day,
The mystery of Peter's life -- the man who was away.
The Bulletin, 15 December 1894
The song:
Here is the link for the Wallis & Matilda version of the
poem, set to music:
Wallis and Matilda is an Australian folk group that for over
30 years has been musically interpreting the works of Banjo Paterson.
Some bonus Wallis and Matilda:
Clancy of the Overflow:
The Man form Snowy River:
I must say that the Wallis and Matilda interpretation of The
Man from Snowy River is not my fave, I prefer the Slim Dusty version. Here is the link:
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