Poetry of Adam Lindsay Gordon HC + 'Banjo' Patterson - eBay, Plays, Screenplays, Poetry, Fiction Books, Books. (end time 12-Nov-09 19:44:31 AEDST)


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Adam Lindsay Gordon was born on Oct. 19, 1833 at Fayal in the Azores and died on the 24th of June 1870 at New Brighton, Australia. He was educated in England at Cheltenham College, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and the Royal Worcester Grammar School.

As a youth he was very wild and reckless and his father decided that he should be sent to South Australia. He arrived in Adelaide in 1853 he was 20 years old and within a few days he joined the South Australian Mounted Police. Two years later in 1855 he resigned and became a horse breaker and steeplechase rider. He soon gained a reputation as being the best and most daring non-professional steeplechase rider in the colony.

In 1859 and two years after the death of his parents in 1857 he received 7,000 pounds from his mother's estate. Soon after in 1862 he married Margaret Park a girl of 17 he purchased a small cottage Dingley Dell in South Australia.

In August 1864 his first poem "The Feud" was published in March 1865. At this time he was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly but later resigned because he had bought land in Western Australia. The venture failed and he returned in 1867 and settled in Mount Gambier.

During this time he was contributing verse to the Australian and Bell's Life in Victoria.

The years from 1867 to 1870 were not good years for Gordon in fact they were disastrous. He decided to embark on yet another business venture and rented livery stables at Ballarat in Victoria. He had poor business sense and the venture failed. In 1868 he had a bad riding accident and worse still his only child Annie died at 11 months of age and his wife left Ballarat.

During this time Gordon apparently had many debts and fortunately a small legacy arrived just in in the nick of time for him to settle them. Also at this time he went to Melbourne and created a record at Flemington by winning three steeplechase races in one afternoon two of them on his own horses.

In 1869 he moved to Brighton and his wife rejoined him. But events were stacking up against him and in March 1970 he fell badly in a steeplechase and sustained a serious head injury from which he never fully recovered.

He became very depressed and more so when he learned that a legacy he was expecting from a Gordon estate in Scotland was not valid due to a change of law. He was hoping to pay for the printing costs for Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes which were published on the 23rd June 1870 the day before he died. He was warmly congratulated by other well known poets of the day with whom he was friendly including Henry Kendall.

Nevertheless for Gordon his future seemed very bleak and dismal. Early on June 24, 1870 he shot himself on the beach at Brighton. He was just 37 years of age.

It is interesting to note that in 1932 a statue of Gordon was unveiled at Parliament House in Melbourne and in 1934 his bust was placed in Westminster Abbey.

The Collected Verse of A. B. PATTERSON

PUBLISHED BY: Angus & Robertson Publishers. 1975

SIZE: 5.8 x 8.8 inches

PAGES: 272

CONDITION: book is VG. DJ is VG

'Banjo' Paterson, known as Barty to his family, was born Andrew Barton Paterson at Narrambla, near Orange on 17 February 1864. His parents, Andrew Bogle and Rose Isabella Paterson were graziers on Illalong station in the Yass district.

Paterson's early education took place at home under a governess and then at the bush school in Binalong, the nearest township. From about the age of ten years he attended the Sydney Grammar School. He lived with his grandmother in Gladesville and spent the school holidays at Illalong station with his family.

After completing school the 16-year-old Paterson was articled to a Sydney firm of solicitors, Spain and Salway. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1886 and formed the legal partnership, Street and Paterson. During these years Paterson began publishing verse in the Bulletin and Sydney Mail under the pseudonyms 'B' and 'The Banjo'.

In 1895, at the age of 31 and still in partnership with Street, Andrew Barton Paterson achieved two milestones in Australian writing. He composed his now famous ballad 'Waltzing Matilda' and his first book, The Man from Snowy River, and other verses, was published by Angus & Robertson, marking the beginning of an epoch in Australian publishing. This hallmark publication sold out its first edition within a week and went through four editions in six months, making Paterson second only to Kipling in popularity among living poets writing in English. His poetry continues to sell well today and is available in many editions, some of which are illustrated.

Paterson travelled to South Africa in 1899 as special war correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald during the Boer War, and to China in 1901 with the intention of covering the Boxer Rebellion but he arrived after the uprising was over. By 1902 Paterson had left the legal profession. The following year he was appointed Editor of the Evening News (Sydney), a position he held until 1908 when he resigned to take over a property in Wee Jasper.

In 1903 he married Alice Walker in Tenterfield. Their first home was in Queen Street, Woollahra. The Patersons had two children, Grace born in 1904 and Hugh born in 1906.

During World War I Paterson sailed to Europe hoping for an appointment as war correspondent. Instead, during the course of the war he was attached as an ambulance driver to the Australian Voluntary Hospital in France and was commissioned to the 2nd Remount Unit of the AIF. He was eventually promoted to Major.

In Australia again he returned to journalism, retiring in 1930. He was created CBE in 1939. At the time of his death on 5 February 1941 his reputation as the principal folk poet of Australia was secure. His body of work included seven volumes of poetry and prose in many editions, a collection The Collected Verse of A.B. Paterson (1923), a book for children The Animals Noah Forgot (1933), and an anthology The Old Bush Songs (1905), in addition to his many pieces of journalism and reportage. Paterson's role in Australian culture has been celebrated on the Australian $10 note