Andrew Barton Paterson was born in New South Wales, Australia. Paterson was war correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald during the Anglo Boer War. He is best known as Banjo Paterson the descriptive and patriotic poet, but he did dabble in poetry about the places he visited and the scenes he witnessed outside Australia.
In With French To Kimberley, Paterson records his impressions of the siege of Kimberley in 1900, of which the following is the first stanza.
The Boers were down on Kimberley with siege and Maxim gun; The Boers were down on Kimberley, their numbers ten to one! Faint were the hopes the British had to make the struggle good – Defenceless in an open plain the Diamond City stood. They built them forts with bags of sand, they fought from roof and wall, They flashed a message to the south, ‘Help! or the town must fall!’ Then down our ranks the order ran to march at dawn of day. And French was off to Kimberley to drive the Boers away.
Filed under: Paterson Andrew Barton, Poetry Anglo Boer War (Australian) , anglo boer war, australian poetry, banjo paterson
