It has been recorded by many folk and popular artists and groups including The Bushwhackers, Gary Shearston, Niamh Parsons, June Tabor, Show of Hands, and Weddings Parties Anything.
[2] Paul Kelly made his public debut singing the Australian folk song "Streets Of Forbes" to a Hobart audience in 1974.
[3][4] "The Streets of Forbes" is usually listed as traditional or anonymous, but Gary Shearston writes that "there are reasons for thinking John McGuire, (Ben Hall's brother in law), may well have been the original author".
[5][6][7] The song recounts how Ben Hall left his station and became a bushranger for three years, and was then shot dead by police in 1865.
The song paints Hall in a sympathetic light, and portrays the police as corrupt, brutal and cowardly.