"By the Grey Gulf-Water"
by A. B. Paterson
Written	1897
First published in	The Bulletin
Country	Australia
Language	English
Publication date	11 December 1897
Lines	36
Full text
By the Grey Gulf-water at Wikisource

"By the Grey Gulf-Water" is a poem by Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson (Andrew Barton Paterson). ^[1]

Contents

• Critical reception
• Publication history
• See also
• References

It was first published in The Bulletin on 11 December 1897, as by "The Banjo" under the title "On the Grey Gulf-water", ^[2] and subsequently reprinted in the author's poetry collections and other poetry anthologies. ^[1]

Critical reception

In a review of Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses in The Register (Adelaide) the writer noted that the poem looks at a "little-known region" and describes it "in lines which skilfully give the impression of vague waste space". ^[3]

A review of the same book in The Evening News (Sydney) called the poem "a mournful and beautiful song of 'a great grey chaos'". ^[4]

Publication history

After its original publication in The Bulletin ^[2] the poem was later reprinted as follows:

• Rio Grande's Last Race and Other Verses by A. B. Paterson, Angus and Robertson, 1902 ^[5]
• An Anthology of Australian Verse edited by Bertram Stevens, Angus and Robertson, 1907 ^[6]
• The Golden Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Bertram Stevens, Angus and Robertson, 1909 ^[7]
• The Freeman's Journal , 2 February 1911 ^[8]
• The Bulletin , 1 February 1933 ^[9]
• The Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson : Containing 'The Man from Snowy River', 'Rio Grande' and 'Saltbush Bill, M.P.', 1921 ^[10]
• Singer of the Bush, A. B. (Banjo) Paterson : Complete Works 1885-1900 edited by Rosamund Campbell and Philippa Harvie, Lansdowne, 1983 ^[11]
• The Banjo's Best-Loved Poems compiled by Rosamund Campbell and Philppa Harvie, Weldon Publishing, 1985 ^[12]
• Banjo Paterson's Poems of the Bush, J. M. Dent, 1987 ^[13]
• A Vision Splendid: The Complete Poetry of A. B. 'Banjo' Paterson, Angus and Robertson, 1990 ^[14]
• Selected Poems : A. B. Paterson edited by Les Murray, 1992 ^[15]
• Banjo Paterson : His Poetry and Prose edited by Richard Hall, Allen & Unwin, 1993 ^[16]
• The Collected Verse of Banjo Paterson edited by Clement Semmler, Viking O'Neill, 1993 ^[17]
• The Bush Poems of A. B. (Banjo) Paterson edited by Jack Thompson, FinePoets, 2008 ^[18]

See also

• 1897 in Australian literature

References