G'day Helen & McGrath,

I think The Banjo was a racehorse owned by his family ... he adopted 'Banjo' as a nom de plume quite early in his writing career - well before he could afford to own a racehorse ... although, he definitely was of the 'horsey, fast set' of his day! ... And country station (~ = "ranch" [US] or "estate" [UK]) types all were much into horseracing on local town racecourses and at 'picnic meetings'.

A lot of Paterson's humorous poetry has racing as its background and he loved it ... and knew it well. Lawson's is the poetry of the Australian 'battler' ... carrying a swag on the rough roads, amking a living as best he can - and that doesn't appeal to those with upwardly-mobile pretensions.

Regards,

Bob Bolton