Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson (1864 – 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Barty went to Sydney Grammar School in 1874. While at school he lived with his grandmother, Emily May Barton, in suburban Gladesville. Emily encouraged her grandson to read and write poetry. When he was sixteen, Paterson began work as an articled clerk for a solicitor; he practiced as a lawyer until 1900, then worked as a journalist, contributing articles for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Argus during the Boer War and Boxer Rebellion. Paterson's more notable poems include "Clancy of the Overflow" (1889), "The Man from Snowy River" (1890) and "Waltzing Matilda" (1895), widely considered Australia's unofficial national anthem.