''In Defence of the Bush'' is a popular poem by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n writer and poet Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 23 July 1892 in reply to fellow poet

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

's poem, '' Up The Country.'' Paterson's rebuttal sparked the

Bulletin Debate The "''Bulletin'' Debate" was a well-publicised dispute in '' The Bulletin'' magazine between two of Australia's best known writers and poets, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. The debate took place via a series of poems about the merits of livin ...

, a series of poems by both Lawson and Paterson about the true nature of life in the Australian bush. In '' Up The Country,'' Lawson had criticised "

The City Bushman ''The City Bushman'' is a poem by iconic Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. It was first published in '' The Bulletin'' magazine on 6 August 1892, under the title ''In Answer to "Banjo", and Otherwise''. It was the fourth work in the Bull ...

" such as Banjo Paterson who tended to romanticise bush life. Paterson, in turn, accused Lawson of representing bush life as nothing but doom and gloom, famously ending with the line ''"For the bush will never suit you, and you'll never suit the bush."'' Wikisource article - ''In Defence of the Bush'' by Banjo Paterson

References

{{Banjo Paterson 1892 poems Poetry by Banjo Paterson Bulletin Debate Works originally published in The Bulletin (Australian periodical)

See also

References