Story: Rural mythologies

Station ballads

Station ballads

While most rural myth making in colonial New Zealand concerned settled family farmers, at the end of the 19th century there was some mythologising of the rough, tough, unattached males who worked on large sheep runs. George Chamier wrote novels of the shepherds living in men’s quarters and David McKee Wright penned some ballads about the shearers and swaggers who drifted from station to station. Wright’s most famous book was Station ballads, and other poems, published in 1897.

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Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: David McKee Wright, Station ballads and other verses. Dunedin: J.G. Sawell (Wise’s), 1897.

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How to cite this page:

Jock Phillips, 'Rural mythologies - Colonial myth making', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/object/20311/station-ballads (accessed 30 April 2024)

Story by Jock Phillips, published 24 Nov 2008