Poetry about bushrangers

Banjo Paterson in 1890

Andrew Barton Paterson (17 February 1864 – 5 February 1941)

"Gilbert and Hall and O'Maley, back in the bushranging days,

Made themselves king of the district - ruled it in old-fashioned ways -

Robbing the coach and the escort, stealing our horses at night,

Calling sometimes at the homesteads and giving the women a fright;

Come to the station one morning - and why they did this no one knows -

Took a brood mare from the paddock - wanting some fun, I suppose -

Fastened a bucket beneath her, hung by a strap round her flank,

Then turned her loose in the timber back of the seven-mile tank."

An excerpt from Banjo Paterson's poem In the Stable

Read the complete poem at Australian Poetry Library

Read more about Banjo Paterson and other Sydney Poets.