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THE WILL OGILVIE APPRECIATION GROUP William Henry Ogilvie was born in 1869 abd dued ub 1963.  He was one of the noted bush balladists at the turn of the century.  Will was a scotsman, who spent only twelve years in Australia, from 1889 to 1901.  He spent that time in droving cattle and sheep as station overseer, champion horsebreaker and in general bush work.  His natural gift with horses was soon apparent, even though he rode in an English hunting saddle, proving that there was little he needed to learn about handling them.  He began work for the Scott family on a station called Belalie in outback New South Wales, then moved to South Australia, Victoria and outback Queensland.   Will's gift at poetry was soon also evident and the Bulletin was to become his main vehicle for publishing his many poems.   Fair Girls and Gray Horses made its debut at this time, being published as his first book, of that _title_, appearing in 1898 and was republished in about nine editions. Many other anthologies of poems followed, as well as two books, My Life in the Open (1908) and The Honour of the Station (1914).  The former, compared farming practices in Australia, USA and UK, whilst the latter is a superb collection of marvellous stories, all _base_d on facts of life in his working days here. Although Will supported his family all through his long life by writing poetry, I tend to think that Australian conditions brought out the best in him.  He was passionately in love with this great country, the beauty and terror of living and working in the outback and the genuine people he encountered in his short time here.  Many people wonder why he never returned, but as they say blood is thicker than water , and he had a large family of brothers and sisters, and his parents back home in Scotland and that pull was too great.  He broke down at his farewell dinner in Sydney, mucking up his speech and wishing to be anywhere else other than in the limelight.  Many notables of the artistic world at the turn of the century were at this dinner.  His farewell poems by contrast were far more evocative and heart wrenching and many more beauties blowed from his magic pen after his return to Scotland. Book after book followed, and he was still writing until he was in his mid-eighties...an amazing feat.  The subjects he covers include, bush life, droving, dreaming, dances in town, bushfires, floods, death, the beautiful bush by day and night, girls, polo matches, stories of lost love, nature at her sweetest and fiercest people he knew and loved ( including Adam Lindsay Gordon, well known station owners and Breaker Morant) stampeding cattle, great horses he rode and loved, including his most treasured grey Loyal Heart , and great bushmen he knew and admired. Back home, he wrote many hundreds of lovely poems about Scotland and UK, his family, fox hunting (his great love) and many observations on life which follow a more spiritual or philosophical vane. The list of publications is as follows: Fair Girls and Gray Horses                                      1898-1907 Hearts of Gold                                                  1903 My Life in the Open                                             1908 Whaup O' the Ride                                               1909 The Land We Love                                                1910 Rainbows and Witches                                            1910 The Overlander                                                  1913 The Honour of the Station                                       1914 The Australian                                                  1916 Galloping Shoes                                                 1922 Scattered Scarlet                                               1923 Over the Grass                                                  1925 A Handful of Leather                                            1928 A Clean Wind Blowing                                            1930 Collected Sporting Verse                                        1931 Saddles Again                                                   1937 Horse Laughter                                                  1938 From Sunset to Dawn                                             1946 Saddle For a Throne                                             1952 Border Poems                                                    1959 Border Poems (2nd edition republished)                          1992 Forty nine of Will's poems were set to music.  Fifteen of his poems were also recorded on tape in 1958. A book about William Henry Ogilvies' life, including a complete reprint of The Honour of the Station , has just been published by Kangaroo Press in Sydney, edited by Mr John Meredith.  It is en_title_d 'Beaker's Mate' : Will Ogilvie in Australia .* Anyone who is interested in this and more comprehensive information, or who has any of these books can contact me on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it * Will H Ogilvie : Balladist of Borders and Bush by George Ogilvie, was published in UK in 1994.  This lovely little book written by his only son, (he also had a daughter) gives the reader insights into a life Australia will never see again.  Its author died in 1995. All copyright held by William Henry Ogilvie's great grand-daughter, Miss Catherine Jefferies, Edinburgh.