Clancy of The Overflow - History

History

The poem is written from the point of view of a city-dweller who once met the title character, a shearer and drover, and now envies the imagined pleasures of Clancy's lifestyle, which he compares favourably to life in "the dusty, dirty city" and "the round eternal of the cashbook and the journal".

And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him

In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,

And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,

And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.

The title comes from the address of a letter the city-dweller sends, "The Overflow" being the name of the sheep station where Clancy was working when they met.

The poem is based on a true story that was experienced by Banjo Paterson. He was working as a lawyer when someone asked him to send a letter to a man named Thomas Gerald Clancy, asking for a payment that was never received. Banjo sent the letter to "The Overflow", a run 15 kilometres north of Nyngan, and soon received a reply that read:

Clancy's gone to Queensland droving and we don't know where he are

The letter looked as though it had been written with a thumbnail dipped in tar and it is from this that Banjo Paterson found the inspiration for the poem, along with the meter.

In 1897, Thomas Gerald Clancy wrote a poem to reply to Banjo Paterson's, named "Clancy's Reply".

Clancy himself makes a cameo appearance in another popular Banjo Paterson poem, "The Man from Snowy River", which was first published the following year.