In the ballads and poetry of Banjo Paterson are captured the spirit of the Australian Outback, and the essences of the bushmen and women who pioneered it. The vast distances, the droughts, the floods, the flies, the heat … and the harsh and beautiful places of Outback Australia were brought to the city people of the late 1880's through the writings of Andrew Barton Paterson.A true folk poet, a recorder and publisher of Australian Bush Songs, Banjo brought the legendary magic of the Australian bush into the household, the schools and the government. His mythical ballad Waltzing Matilda would be described as Australia's unofficial national anthem, and there is no doubt he contributed much to Australia's heritage.The Man from Snowy River, tells the story of a young mountain lad, mounted on a small mountain pony, who rides out with the experienced stockmen in pursuit of a runaway horse. Because of his size, and the size of his pony he is first rediculed, but when the wild bush horses take to the wild and rugged mountain tracts, he and his pony grow in stature ….