The Old Australian Ways
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "The Old Australian Ways" | |
|---|---|
| by A. B. Paterson | |
| Written | 1902 |
| First published in | Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Lines | 72 |
| Full text | |
 The Old Australian Ways at Wikisource | |
"The Old Australian Ways" is a poem by Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson (Andrew Barton Paterson).[1]
It was first published in the poet's collection Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses in 1902, and subsequently reprinted in the author's poetry collections and other poetry anthologies.[1]
The poet compares the "prison's bars" of the city folk of London, with the wide open land of Australia. He writes of Clancy (of the "Overflow") who saddled a horse and rode west and states that if you want to know what he found there, then you would need to go "Beyond the reach of rule or law", to "Nature's homestead" to "see what Clancy saw/And know what Clancy knew."
Critical reception
In a review of the author's Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses a writer in The Grafton Argus and Clarence River General Advertiser noted that "The best of his work at present is that in which he abandons the purely quizzical vein, and which gives descriptions of the land he touched with some light of imagination–as in 'The Old Australian Ways'".[2]