Waltzing Matilda or recordings of bush ballads include anything to suggest it preceded Paterson. Meanwhile, handwritten manuscripts from the time the song originated indicate the song's origins with Paterson and Christina Macpherson, as do their own recollections and other pieces of evidence. There has been speculation about the relationship "Waltzing Matilda" bears to an English song, "The Bold Fusilier" (also known as "Marching through Rochester", referring to Rochester in Kent and the Duke of Marlborough), a song sung to the same tune and dated by some back to the 18th century but first printed in 1900. There is, however, no documentary proof
Banjo Paterson work is often compared to the prose of Henry Lawson, particularly the seminal work, "The Drover's Wife", which presented a considerably less romantic view of the harshness of rural existence of the late 19th century. Paterson authored two novels; "An Outback Marriage" (1906) and "The Shearer's Colt" (1936), wrote many short stories; "Three Elephant Power and Other Stories" (1917), and wrote a book based on his experiences as a war reporter; "Happy Dispatches" (1934). He also wrote a book for children "The Animals Noah Forgot" (1933) Contemporary recordings of many of Paterson's well known poems have been released by Jack