When Campbell Irvine first landed in Australia he had no intention of making it his home for the next four decades.

Hailing from New Zealand, the man now more commonly known as Campbell the Swaggie followed a band, The Bushwhackers, to Australia in 1975.

Now he lives a life on the road, travelling from festival to festival with his only possessions: a swag, a few bags and his trademark hat.

"To the people of this day and age, I'm sort of like the iconic symbol of old Australia," he said.

"Or the closest thing to it, you know."

'Life under the stars'

Campbell considers himself more of a storyteller than poet.

His performances are a blend of works from other bush poets, the chronicles of his life and tales of mateship, multiculturalism and "whatever's happening on the day".

"I've done a fair bit of tramping in my time, along the old stock routes of western Queensland and sections of South Australia," he said.

"So it's sort of like telling the story of a lifestyle that I still try to keep going under the stars."

Campbell said his festival performances provided him with enough money to live the life he has chosen.

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But he always welcomes the clink of coins that come when he busks in between gigs.

"You get whatever you can, it's virtually like a top-up," he said.

And while he once claimed a government allowance, it's not something he has thought about for more than 25 years.

"I walked away from social security around 1990," he said.

"I just forgot to go and do it because I had too much on my mind."

Rules of the road

Although he answers to no-one, Campbell does follow a certain set of rules.

His performances, whether at a festival or on the street, are about sharing stories and helping others understand the life of old.

"It's a mateship sort of thing — the mateship clause, that's what being a swagman's all about," he said.

"Helping others, putting everybody else before yourself."

Above all other clauses, though, is the one that keeps Campbell performing.

"There's this thing they call the Matilda Waltzers' Union rules [that say] no swagman can be over 100 years old," he said.

"So that's about where the retirement age is."