A B Banjo Paterson

‘The Animals Noah Forgot’ A.
B. 'Banjo' Paterson A wonderful look at some of the strange, wonderful animals in Australia - images attached where possible.
The big white English swan, escaped from captivity, found himself swimming in an…

With never a sound of trumpet,
With never a flag displayed,
The last of the old
Lined up for the last parade.

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of
Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,
He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,
Just "

On the rugged water
At the top of the bridle
Where years ago, as the old men say,
The splitters went with a bullock

LT!
Who goes there?” The sentry’s
Rose on the midnight
Above the noises of the camp

The strongest creature for his
But least equipped for
That dwells beneath Australian
Is Weary Will the Wombat.

The opening of the railway line… The Governor and all,
With flags and banners down the street,
A banquet and a ball,
Hark to them at the station now !

'Twas the dingo pup to his dam that said,"It's time I worked for my daily bread.
Out in the world I intend to go,
And you'd be surprised at the things I know. "There's a wild duck's nest in a sheltered spot,
And I'll go…

The London lights are far
Behind a bank of cloud,
Along the shore the gaslights gleam,
The gale is piping loud;

We have sung the song of the droving days, Of the march of the travelling sheep;
By silent stages and lonely ways Thin, white battalions creep.
But the man who now by the land would thrive Must his spurs to a plough-share beat.
Is…

The bell is set a-ringing, and the engine gives a toot,
There's five-and-thirty shearers here a-shearing for the loot,
So stir yourselves, you penners-up, and shove the sheep along —The musterers are fetching them a hundred thousand…

The chorus frogs in the big
Would sing their songs to the silvery moon.
Tenor singers were out of place,
For every frog was a double bass.

"He ought to be home," said the old man, "
without there's something amiss.
He only went to the Two-mile — he ought to be back by this.
He would ride the Reckless filly, he would have his wilful way;

Oh there once was a swagman camped in the billabong, Under the shade of a Coolabah tree;
And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling "Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me." Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda, my…

'Twas Mulga Bill, from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze;
He turned away the good old horse that served him many days;
He dressed himself in cycling clothes, resplendent to be seen;
He hurried off to town and bought a…

My Uncle Bill!
My Uncle Bill!
How doth my heart with anguish thrill!
For he, our chief, our Robin Hood

The daylight is dying
Away in the west,
The wild birds are flying
In silence to rest;

It was somewhere up the country, in a land of rock and scrub,
That they formed an institution called the Geebung Polo Club.
They were long and wiry natives from the rugged mountain side,
And the horse was never saddled that the…

Out in the grey cheerless chill of the morning light,
Out on the track where the night shades still lurk,
ere the first gleam of the sungod's returning
Round come the racehorses early at work.

We buried old Bob where the bloodwoods
At the foot of the Eaglehawk;
We fashioned a cross on the old man's
For fear that his ghost might walk;

Down along the Snakebite River, where the overlanders camp,
Where the serpents are in millions, all of the most deadly stamp;
Where the station-cook in terror, nearly every time he bakes,
Mixes up among the doughboys half-a-dozen…

ED
SE  by A B ‘Banjo’
This collection of 60 poems published many times over the decades appear to have one thing in common with other.
As in most 1 author anthologies there is a theme running throughout.

Let us cease our idle chatter,
Let the tears bedew our cheek,
For a man from
Has been missing for a week.

On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few,
And men of religion are scanty,
On a road never cross'd 'cept by folk that are lost,
One Michael Magee had a shanty.