A classic Australian ballad by Banjo Paterson (1864 - 1941). The poem was first published in The Sydney Mail on 25 July 1896. The actual model for the character of Mulga Bill was William Henry Lewis (1880-1968), who knew Paterson in the vicinity of Bourke, New South Wales. Lewis had bought his bicycle as a result of a drought when there was no feed for horses. Mulga is a very common species of Acacia that predominates the interior regions of the Australian bush, and colloquially, it is an alternative term for the Bush itself or wilderness regions, for example 'up the mulga'.
Well read, I've been learning to ride a motorbike for the last 3 months, so I can relate to this quite well.
whatzupa 1 year ago