A. B. Paterson

Andrew Barton Paterson (1864–1941), known as "Banjo" Paterson, was an Australian poet, journalist and lawyer whose bush ballads helped shape the country's image of itself. Raised on a station in New South Wales, he trained as a solicitor in Sydney and began publishing verse in The Bulletin under the pen name "The Banjo." The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses (1895) became a huge success. He worked as a war correspondent in South Africa and China, edited newspapers, and served in the First World War. He also wrote the words of "Waltzing Matilda" and collected Old Bush Songs.