The Death of Ben Hall

"The Death of Ben Hall" (1924) is a poem by Scottish poet Will H. Ogilvie. It is also known under the title "The Betrayal of Ben Hall".^[1]

It was originally published in Smith's Weekly on 27 September 1924^[2] and subsequently reprinted in a number of Australian poetry anthologies.^[1]

The poem relates the story of how the bushranger Ben Hall was killed by eight well-armed policemen on 5 May 1865.^[3]

After the poem's initial publication in Smith's Weekly it was reprinted as follows:

• Wild Colonial Boys edited by Frank Clune, Angus and Robertson, 1948^[4]
• Favourite Australian Poems edited by Ian Mudie, Rigby, 1963^[5]
• From the Ballads to Brennan edited by T. Inglis Moore, Angus & Robertson, 1964^[6]
• Old Australian Ballads edited by W. N. Walker, School Projects, 1967^[7]
• This Land : An Anthology of Australian Poetry for Young People edited by M. M. Flynn and J. Groom, Pergamon Press, 1968^[8]
• Complete Book of Australian Folk Lore edited by Bill Scott, 1976^[9]
• The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse edited by Beatrice Davis, Nelson, 1984^[10]
• My Country : Australian Poetry and Short Stories, Two Hundred Years edited by Leonie Kramer, Lansdowne, 1985^[11]
• Old Ballads from the Bush edited by Bill Scott, Angus and Robertson, 1987^[12]
• On the Track with Bill Bowyang edited by Hugh Anderson and Dawn Anderson, Red Rooster Press, 1992^[13]
• Breaker's Mate: Will Ogilvie in Australia edited by John Meredith, Kangaroo Press, 1996^[14]
• Classic Australian Verse edited by Maggie Pinkney, Five Mile Press, 2001^[15]
• Two Centuries of Australian Poetry edited by Kathrine Bell, Gary Allen, 2007^[16]
• 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant, Hardie Grant, 2008^[17]
• Australian Poetry Since 1788 edited by Geoffrey Lehmann and Robert Gray, University of NSW Press, 2011^[18]

• 1924 in Australian literature
• 1924 in poetry