Edward Phillip Harrington (28 September 1896 – 28 May 1966) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n poet and short story writer, the last of the bush ballad

Bush ballad

Bush songs or bush ballads are a folk music and poetry tradition in Australia's outback. The rhyming songs, poems and tales often relate to the itinerant and rebellious spirit of Australia, a young country. The lyrical tradition of bush songs was born of settlers and influenced by Aboriginal...

ists.

Biography

Born in Shepparton, in central Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Harrington was the fourth child of Philip Harrington, a farmer from Ireland, and his Australian wife, Margaret O'Brien. Edward Harrington served in Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 with the Australian Light Horse during the First World War, and took part in the charge on Beersheba

Beersheba

Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....

. He was discharged in 1919 with a repatriation pension, as he needed medical attention for the rest of his life. Harrington was a founding member of the Australian Poetry Lovers' Society (1934) and the Bread and Cheese Club

Bread and Cheese Club

The Bread and Cheese Club was a Melbourne-based Australian art and literary society and publisher. It was founded in June 1938 with the purpose of fostering “Mateship, Art and Letters”. Its membership was all male. It promoted Australian writers and published about 40 books, as well as a magazine...

(1938). He is generally referred to as the last of the Bush Balladists.

Works

• Songs of War and Peace (1920)
• Boundary Bend and Other Ballads (1936)
• My Old Black Billy and Other Songs of the Australian Outback (1940)
• The Kerrigan Boys (1944)
• The Swagless Swaggie and Other Ballads (1957)