William Henry Ogilvie (21 August 1869 – 30 January 1963) was a Scottish-Australian narrative poet and horseman, jackaroo, and drover, and described as a quiet-spoken handsome Scot of medium height, with a fair moustache and red complexion.

[8][note 1] Wearing the title of 'Universally acclaimed in Australia as a bush balladist of the "Outback"',[2] Will H. Ogilvie wrote over 1,100 poems, including A Scotch night, The Australian, Summer country, Kings of the earth, and Whaup o' the rede.

[9] Ogilvie was educated at Kelso High School for two terms as a weekly boarder, had some tutoring in Yorkshire, before entering Fettes College, Edinburgh where he excelled as a runner and in rugby.

[4][1][6] Having just turned twenty years of age, he travelled from Scotland to Australia on the SS Arcadia for four weeks, via the Suez Canal, arriving in Sydney on 1 November 1889.

[1][4] After eleven years on the continent, on 9 February 1901 aged thirty-one, in Sydney the poet and bushman boarded the SS Persic travelling by way of Cape Town to Liverpool, England.

Australia remained important to the poet,[13][14][2] prizing a stockwhip made by Alexander Patton with a silver tacks spelling out 'W.H.O.'

[1][note 2] Australia also remembered Ogilvie through continued correspondence over his later years, including school children wishing him a happy 70th birthday.

[5] During World War I, Ogilvie remained in Great Britain, and was in charge of and prepared Canadian horses for military service at the Army Remounts Branch in Wiltshire, England.

Ogilvie wrote lyrical and romantic poetry noted for its balladic style, with expressive descriptions of Australian Outback life and characters.

[31] At the time of 1898 each of Australia's balladeers wrote of a different phase of their own lives: 'Lawson the swagman, Dyson the miner, Daley the poet, Paterson the humorist... And now Ogilvie... the horseman'.

[34] Similarly some outside influences can be seen in some of Ogilvie's work: that of John Greenleaf Whittier in Memory town, Rudyard Kipling in Black sheep, and perhaps a little of Henry Lawson.

The acclaimed poem was first penned on the stock route between Forbes and Bogan Gate in the NSW Parkes area before being refined on the walls of his bedroom at Maaoupe station.

[1] After Belalie, Ogilvie travelled overland to Maaoupe station in South Australia prior to November 1893 and probably earlier as an overseer,[44] which was owned by the family of Dr James Dickson and managed by Mr John McCouchie, one of them a cousin of William Scott.

[45][46][47] Many poems were submitted under the pen name 'Glenrowan' to the South Australian The Border Watch newspaper, including A draft from Tringadee, The dapple greys, Dark lamps, The filling of the swamps, How the chestnut horse came home, Kings of the earth, and Unsung heroes.

[62] This Scottish background influenced the books offered for sale, together with the Robertson's experiences of hardship and humanity led to supporting writers, and manuscripts of bush life.

[70][71] May 1900 saw a ten guinea competition prize awarded to Sydney composer George Ernest Vincent (–1932)[72] for the best musical setting for Hearts of gold.

[74] His farewell bohemian banquet at the Hotel Australia, Sydney, was hosted by also-notable poets Louise Mack and Victor Daley, and included the participation of colleagues Banjo Paterson and Roderic Quinn.

[75][76] After returning from Australia in 1901 aboard the SS Persic, and again in 1908 after two years away in the United States of America, Ogilvie settled into the role of 'Border poet' based in the south near the Scottish–English border.

[6] Poems were not typed but done by hand,[6] as was also his late-1890s practice, 'A memory of him clings locally as a good-natured, easy going bushman, who sauntered leisurely into the newspaper office, presented a crumpled and often soiled manuscript, and, after inviting the staff to have a drink, would turn his gray once more to Gunningbland'.

[9] Ogilvie's most commonly recited poems are A Scotch night, Bowmont Water, Ho for the blades of Harden, The barefoot maid, The comfort of the Hills, The land we love, The Raiders, and The road to Roberton.

[82][83][84] 'Poets Trek', part of the Festival of a Thousand Stories, is held annually in September for over twenty years, in Bourke, New South Wales as a two-day literary tour.

[85] Led by a group of local poets and enthusiasts, the trek goes through some of the mulga plains and paddocks trod by Lawson, Morant, Ogilvie, and Paterson.

[86] Several poems were set to music during Ogilvie's lifetime, including by famed English composer Graham Peel with 1920 'The challenge'.

Ogilvie's verse was also put to music by bush poet Gary Fogarty, of Millmerran, Queensland, with thirteen poems on The Tartan Saddlecloth in 2005.

[91] In 1959, Hazel de Berg, who interviewed many people within Australia including author May Gibbs and journalist Kenneth Cook, audio-recorded Ogilvie reciting sixteen of his poems.

Transport operator and philanthropist Bill Bolton MBE (1905–1973), an admirer of Australian pioneer values, and who had corresponded with Ogilvie over time, established the gallery and library in 1959.

[93] The nearby Cobb & Co Museum, featuring all of Bolton's horse-drawn wagons and stage coaches, also have Ogilvie's treasured stockwhip and other items.

More material on Ogilvie's life and contributions are also contained within the: A cairn to the poet was erected in 1993 between the villages of Ashkirk and Roberton in Scotland (GPS 55°27′33″N 2°52′43″W / 55.45914°N 2.87868°W / 55.45914; -2.87868),[99] and there are also memorials to him in Australia.

The original mould was not retained but a three-dimensional image scan was obtained from the identical cairn in Australia allowing the replacement of a smaller bronze, unveiled on 17 August 2019, albeit in the new setting of Harden (GPS 55°26′13″N 2°52′37″W / 55.43697°N 2.87705°W / 55.43697; -2.87705).

[94][96] Other cairns are: A bust of Ogilvie by sculptor Judith Rolevink was unveiled on Sunday 2 December 2018, forming part of Poet's Corner in Penola, South Australia, together with Shaw Neilson.