Hi Gerry,

I think the "riders", which is a term I have never heard in relation to gates, would be a part of the farm gates which are loose and rattling in the storms. The gates would have been made of wood in Lawson's time, and would have looked a lot like these wooden farm gates in New Zealand

If the gates were not being maintained the joins would have loosened and they would rattle. That's my best guess.

As Jeff B has said, and according to
Wikipedia's defiinition of squatters is: In Australian history, squatting and squatter referred to those who occupied large tracts of Crown land in order to graze livestock. Initially often having no legal rights to the land, they gained its usage by being the first (and often the only) Europeans in the area.

You may be interested in a book by Chris Kempster called The Songs of Henry Lawson. There are often different tunes used by different performers for the same poems. It is a treasure trove, not only of the poems of Henry Lawson, but also of the musical interpretations of his poems.

Helen
in Newcastle, Australia