In his day, poet , short story writer and composer, Edward Harrington (1896-l966), was regarded as the last of the Australian Bush Balladists. Born in Shepparton, Victoria, the fourth son of an Irish farmer and an Australian mother, Margaret O'Brien, Harrington took part in the famous Australian Light Horse charge on Beersheba. Requiring medical attention for the rest of his life because of war service , he was a founding member of the Australian Poetry Lovers' Society in l934 and the active , influential Melbourne Bread and Cheese Club - mentioned several times previously in Little Darwin in connection with NT pioneer Jessie Litchfield and historian, author, publisher Glenville Pike .
A Little Darwin scavenger found the above 1940 collection of Harrington's outback songs in an op shop box . Titles include Old Timer , The Swagman's Song, Port Noarlunga (Adelaide) By the Sea and The Fossicker. The music was published by Allan and Co. Pty. Ltd., of Melbourne, Adelaide and Bendigo. Alas, this fine Australian music company was forced to close its doors in recent times. The back of this volume advertised SONGS FROM THE BUSH , collected and edited by John Meredith and others, arranged by Alfred Hill , which included Click go the Shears, bushrangers Bold Jack Donahue and Frank Gardiner , and Widgeegowera Joe. Other works by Harrington included Songs of War and Peace (1920) ; Boundary Bend and Other Ballads (1936); The Kerrigan Boys (1944) and The Swagless Swaggie and Other Ballads (1957).
