Banjo Paterson

Andrew Barton Banjo Paterson, CBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He 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. Patersons more notable poems include Waltzing Matilda, The Man from Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow.

Andrew Barton Paterson was born at the property Narrambla, near Orange, New South Wales, the eldest son of Andrew Bogle Paterson, a Scottish immigrant from Lanarkshire, and Australianborn Rose Isabella Barton, related to the future first Prime Minister of Australia Edmund Barton. Patersons family lived on the isolated Buckinbah Station near Yeoval NSW until he was five when his father lost his wool clip in a flood and was forced to sell up. When Patersons uncle John Paterson died, his family took over John Patersons farm in Illalong, near Yass, close to the main route between Melbourne and Sydney. Bullock teams, Cobb and Co coaches and drovers were familiar sights to him. He also saw horsemen from the Murrumbidgee River area and Snowy Mountains country take part in picnic races and polo matches, which led to his fondness of horses and inspired his writings.

Source: Wikipedia