Curio

State Library of New South Wales
The Man from Snowy River and other verses

The Man from Snowy River and other verses

1895
Manuscript
Acquired from Angus & Robertson, 1933
MLMSS 314 / 195 (A 1909)

First published in the Bulletin in April 1890, Banjo Patterson‘s poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’ was an instant success. While Paterson had no illusions about his writing skills – ‘Scant in their worth’, he said, ‘their merits indeed but slight’* – the poem tapped into a strengthening surge of nationalism in the lead-up to Federation in 1901.

Paterson's verse celebrated a rugged, irreverent and masculine spirit that turned away from the city to a wild and idealised bush heartland. Along with Dorothea Mackellar’s ‘My Country’ and the paintings of artists such as Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, Paterson’s ‘The Man from Snowy River’ and other writings helped popularise a distinctive but highly selective Australian identity that would maintain a powerful hold for generations to come.

Paterson republished the poem in 1895 in his first book The Man from Snowy River and other verses. The volume on display is an incomplete manuscript of the book. Along with `The Man from Snowy River' and other poems written in Paterson's hand, it contains typescript versions of poems, cuttings from the Bulletin and various printed extracts. It was later bound by the publisher George Robertson of Angus & Robertson.

A fervent but selective nationalism

‘The Man from Snowy River’ remains a household name today, and continues to epitomise the way many Australians would like to see themselves: determined, going against the odds, and encouraging the underdog. However, Paterson’s ballads have been the subject of controversy. Even at the height of their popularity, his ballads and other of his writings were criticised for their narrow and overly romanticised view of the bush and Australian men, and for presenting racist caricatures of minorities such as Chinese and Aboriginal Australians. This has at times made Paterson an attractive icon for those with racist and anti-immigration views.

As a freelance writer, Banjo Paterson contributed to various newspapers and magazines, in particular the Bulletin, which was a key platform for promoting and popularising a particular view of nationalism and national identity that was closely tied to the White Australia policy. For example, in 1906 the magazine changed its slogan from ‘ Australia for the Australians’ to ‘Australia for the White Man’.