Banjo Paterson had two children, Grace (born in 1904) and Hugh (born in 1906). Paterson had been previously engaged to Sarah Riley for eight years, but this was abruptly called off in 1895 following a visit to her at Dagworth Station in Queensland where she was visiting the Macpherson family. It was here that Paterson met his fiancée's best friend from school days, Christina Macpherson, who composed the music for which he then wrote the lyrics of the famous "Waltzing Matilda". However, following this collaboration Paterson was suddenly asked to leave the property, leading historians to conclude that he was a womanizer
Hay and Hell and Booligal Hay and Hell and Booligal Hay and Hell and Booligal is a poem by the Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson. Paterson wrote the poem while working as a solicitor with the firm of Street & Paterson in Sydney. It was first published in "The Bulletin" on 25 April 1896. The poem was later included in Paterson's collection "Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses", first published in 1902. The poem is about the western Riverina town of Booligal; then and now a remote, isolated locality. It compares Booligal unfavourably with the nearby town of Hay and even Hell, recounting a