G'day Dicho,

The Cowan version is a simple rearrangement of the Paterson and MacPherson originals of, respectively, words and tune. As such it is not a composition, but an arrangement ... all that Marie Cowan ever claimed it to be. Marie Cowan's arrangement is no more different from the 1895 Dagworth composition than most of the folksongs, printed in some performer's songbook - or some publisher's compilation - for which copyright and royalties are blatantly claimed.

As an arrangement, it is copyrightable in respect of any changes effected by the arrangement ... but Cowan died in 1939 and Paterson in 1941, so their respective copyrights expired in 1989 and 1991 and the song, in any of the 3 established versions, is in the public domain. (Except in America ... where it did not even qualify for an American copyright under American (disregard for) copyright law at the dates of writing or arrangement!)

Regard(les)S,

Bob Bolton