Australia Post is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Australian literary great, Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson, through a new stamp release.
“The Australian bush ballad helped create a mythology of Australia and Australian identity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are generally simple stories of swagmen, bushrangers, drovers, shearers, working-class oppression and rural isolation,” Australia Post Philatelic Manager, Michael Zsolt.
Mr Zsolt explained that the new Bush Ballads stamp release, featuring four of Banjo’s iconic and well-loved ballads, was a nod to Australia’s idyllic past.
“We trust this stamp issue will remind all Australians of Banjo Paterson’s important contribution to early Australian literature.” Mr Zsolt said

The Bush Ballads stamp release feature the following Banjo Paterson poetry works:
• Clancy of the Overflow – This well-known poem, published in the Bulletin in December 1889, demonstrates Paterson’s romanticism for bush life.
• The Man from Snowy River – Published in the Bulletin in April 1890, this much-loved tale tells of the pursuit of a prizewinning colt that escaped to run among a herd of brumbies in mountainous country.
• Waltzing Matilda – Written in 1895 to a tune played by Christina Macpherson, this is probably the most famous of all Australian ballads.
• Mulga Bill’s Bicycle – Published in the Sydney Morning Herald in July 1896, this humorous poem was written at the height of the late-19th-century bicycling craze.