Just a last few notes on the poem to finish off. The piece was originally published in "Colonial Monthly" in January 1870 with the same basic text as here. The only differences being in punctuation and the spacing of the verses. There is an interesting reference to a bushranger in the poem - "Aye! we had a glorious gallop after "Starlight" and his gang,/When they bolted from Sylvester's on the flat;" - which takes us back to Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Boldrewood where the main bushranger was also called Starlight. Whether there is a connection is impossible to say. But it is curious just the same.
A film version of this poem was produced in 1913: black and white, silent, and only running 19 minutes.
The next four works in this Classic Year:
4. His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke (1872)
5. "The Chosen Vessel" by Barbara Baynton (1896)
6. "The Man from Snowy River" by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson (1890)
7. "Nationality" by Mary Gilmore (1942)
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