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 one two three Whose is the jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag? You'll come a'waltzing Matilda with me But the swagman he up and he jumped in the water hole Drowning himself by the coolibah tree And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the billabong Who'll come a'waltzing Matilda with me? ("Chorus")</poem> In May 1988 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Chief Executive, John Sturman, presented five platinum awards, "which recognised writers who had created enduring works which have become a major part of the Australian culture", at the annual APRA Awards ceremony as part of