The squatters were the landlords who rented out their plots to the workers,very similiar to Ireland in the good old days. There is quite a collection of the works of both Lawson and Patterson that can be downloaded free from an Australian e-book site. As for "Around the Boree Log", that brings back memories. It was very popular in Ireland about 50 years ago, probably because it was written by a priest, and was safe. My mother used to teack me to read with that book.
"Andy's Gone With Cattle" was so popular and touched the hearts of so many that Lawson subsequently wrote "Andy's Return", one of his few happy poems.