1891 Australian shearers' strike wrote his novel in 1892, T"he workingman's paradise", with two aims: to support fundraising efforts for the imprisoned unionists, and to explain unionism and socialism to those who would listen. Banjo Paterson's song Waltzing Matilda, an unofficial Australian anthem, was also written about this era of shearers' industrial disputes in Queensland. Helen Palmer's song 'The Ballad Of 1891', set to music by Doreen Jacobs, details the lead up to the strike and aftermath. The 1975 film Sunday Too Far Away, directed by Ken Hannam has been partly inspired by the events surrounding this strike. The site of the striking shearers'
Waltzing Matilda called "Matilda". In 1995, it was reported that at least 500 artists in Australia and overseas had released recordings of "Waltzing Matilda", and according to Peter Burgis of the National Film and Sound Archive, it is "one of the most recorded songs in the world". Among the artists and bands who have covered the song include Rod Stewart, Chubby Checker, Liberace, Harry Belafonte, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Helmut Lotti, Wilf Carter (Montana Slim), the Irish Rovers, and Burl Ives, The Swingle Singers and the Red Army Choir. Jimmie Rodgers had a US#41 pop hit with