What is a bush ballad?
Q: What is a bush ballad?
A: A bush ballad is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character, and scenery of the Australian bush.
Q: What is the rhyme structure of bush ballads?
A: Bush ballads usually have a simple rhyme structure.
Q: What are some topics that bush ballads typically address?
A: Bush ballads typically tell stories of action and adventure about bushranging, droving, droughts, floods, life on the frontier, and relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Q: Who originally created bush ballads?
A: The first ballads were created by British and Irish settlers and convicts who brought with them the folk music of their homelands.
Q: How did bush ballads evolve over time?
A: Bush ballads grew into a unique style over the years, becoming very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Q: What values did bush ballads and associated media promote in early Australia?
A: Through bush poetry, newspapers and magazines, like The Bulletin, promoted mateship, egalitarianism, anti-authoritarianism, and a concern for the "battler" as being ideal Australian values.
Q: Are bush ballads still popular in modern times?
A: Bush ballads are not as popular in modern times, but the poems written up to Federation are still some of the best-known and loved poems in Australia. Clubs and festivals devoted to bush poetry can be found throughout the country, and the tradition lives on in Australian country music.
