Reconstruction, from a Farmer's Point of View
"Reconstruction, from a Farmer's Point of View" is a satirical dramatic monologue by Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, written in the voice of a struggling Australian farmer reacting to a bank collapse and its subsequent "reconstruction" scheme — a clear reference to the wave of Australian bank failures during the depression of the 1890s, when insolvent banks reopened under reconstruction agreements that locked up depositors' funds for years rather than repaying them in full. The farmer-narrator opens with bitter irony: the bank has "bust its boiler" (failed), and the institution promises to repay his money in full — but only after six or seven years. He compares his own plight to a starving horse that "will perish waiting while the grass is germinating," making clear that a distant promise of repayment is useless against immediate need. He then catalogues the pressing, concrete demands on his cash: ploughing must be finished, his ploughmen need wages, he wants to wire a fence and sink a water tank, and he must pay his rent and outstanding bills. None of these obligations can wait for the bank's leisurely schedule of reconstruction. The bank and its officials call the frozen deposit a "safe and sure investment," but the farmer retorts that it is an investment he simply cannot afford, since the meetings that decided his fate have effectively "collared" his cash at a mere three per cent interest. The poem escalates into a broader indictment of the banking system's unfairness. The farmer notes he can withdraw only half his money from the "Crown" (a stand-in for the reconstructed institution), and even that is undermined by a secondary blow: his landlord, also squeezed by the same bank's collapse, is financially distressed and threatens to sell up the farmer's property to cover his own overdraft. The farmer is thus victimized twice over by one failure — directly, as a depositor, and indirectly, through his landlord's ruin. Paterson sharpens the social critique with the example of a neighbor, Johnson, who owed the same bank money. Unlike the shareholders and the bank itself, Johnson was shown no mercy or patience: the bank moved swiftly to seize his assets, sell the house over his head, and strip him of everything — "every feather off his poor old back they pluck't" — without ever offering him the grace period of "reconstruction" that the bank grants itself. This contrast is the poem's central irony: ordinary debtors face immediate, ruthless enforcement, while the bank's own shareholders and directors are permitted years to make good on their obligations. The farmer then turns to the bank's own financial conduct, noting that its profits had run as high as twenty-five per cent before the collapse — a "pretty tidy whack" — and argues that, now that the business "has come a cropper" (failed), it is only fair that some of those handsome past profits be returned to depositors like himself. He expresses mock bewilderment at banking jargon — "reserve funds," "banking freeholds," and the like — which had led him to believe the bank possessed vast assets, making it "very funny" that it now claims insufficient funds to pay its debts despite having charged borrowers interest rates of ten to twelve per cent. His conclusion is blunt: if the bank's managers made blunders after "scooping all this plunder," they — not the depositors — should personally cover the shortfall. The poem closes with a pointed warning addressed directly to the bank's shareholders: if they refuse to make good on what is owed, the bank's reputation and future will suffer a "blight," since depositors will simply stop trusting it with their money. The final line delivers the poem's satirical sting with grim relish — if the shareholders do not pay their debts, deposits will dry up, the bank will fail again, and it will "serve you right." Structurally, the poem uses Paterson's characteristic bush-ballad form — rollicking rhythm, colloquial Australian vernacular, and a first-person rural speaker — to channel contemporary economic anger into an accessible, entertaining voice. Rather than a lyrical meditation, it functions as topical verse-journalism: a farmer's plainspoken accounting of how high finance's failures cascade down onto working people, tenants, and small debtors, while the institutions and shareholders responsible are shielded by legal and procedural "reconstruction." The poem's enduring interest lies in its class-conscious framing of banking crises — showing sympathy for the small depositor and tenant farmer squeezed from both directions, while reserving its sharpest scorn for the shareholders and bank management who escape the immediate consequences visited upon ordinary debtors like Johnson.
By Andrew Barton Paterson · First published 1940 · Genre: Poetry, Satire, Dramatic Monologue · 558 words
First lines
So, the bank has bust its boiler! And in six or seven year / It will pay me all my money back -- of course! / But the horse will perish waiting while the grass is germinating, / And I reckon I'll be something like the horse.
There's the ploughing to be finished and the ploughmen want their pay, / And I'd like to wire the fence and sink a tank; / But I own I'm fairly beat how I'm going to make ends meet / With my money in a reconstructed bank.
-"It's a safe and sure investment! " But it's one I can't afford, / For I've got to meet my bills and pay the rent, / And the cash I had provided (so these meetings have decided) / Shall be collared by the bank at three per cent.
What this Textopian page supports
Reconstruction, from a Farmer's Point of View is listed on Textopian as a poem by Andrew Barton Paterson, dated 1940 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Andrew Barton Paterson
- Date: 1940 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Satire, Dramatic Monologue, Social Commentary, Australian Literature
- Length: 558 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Reconstruction, from a Farmer's Point of View by Andrew Barton Paterson
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Genres
- Poetry — Written entirely in verse form with regular rhyme scheme (couplets), making verse the foundational genre classification.
- Satire — Employs heavy satirical tone throughout, mockingly criticizing banks, shareholders, and financial institutions through ironic commentary and pointed critique.
- Dramatic Monologue — Structured as a single speaker directly addressing an audience, presenting a personal perspective on systemic injustice in first-person voice.
- Social Commentary — Primary function is to critique and comment on social and economic injustice caused by banking collapse and its effects on ordinary farmers.
Tags
Australian poetry · rural life · farming · banking crisis · financial hardship · debt · agricultural economy · bank failure · reconstruction · political satire · social commentary · economic crisis