Australian writer and poet (1867?1922)
Henry Lawson
|
---|
|
Born
| Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson
(
1867-06-17
)
17 June 1867
|
---|
Died
| 2 September 1922
(1922-09-02)
(aged 55)
Sydney
, New South Wales, Australia
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| Author, poet, balladist
|
---|
Spouse
|
Bertha Marie Louise Bredt
(
m.
1896;
div.
1903)
|
---|
Children
| 2
|
---|
Relatives
| |
---|
Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson
(17 June 1867 ? 2 September 1922)
[1]
was an Australian writer and
bush poet
. Along with his contemporary
Banjo Paterson
, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest short story writer".
[2]
A vocal
nationalist
and
republican
, Lawson regularly contributed to
The Bulletin
, and many of his works helped popularise the
Australian vernacular
in fiction. He wrote prolifically into the 1890s, after which his output declined, in part due to struggles with alcoholism and mental illness. At times destitute, he spent periods in
Darlinghurst Gaol
and psychiatric institutions. After he died in 1922 following a cerebral haemorrhage, Lawson became the first Australian writer to be granted a
state funeral
.
He was the son of the poet, publisher and feminist
Louisa Lawson
.
Family and early life
[
edit
]
Henry Lawson was born 17 June 1867 in a town on the
Grenfell goldfields
of
New South Wales
. His father was Niels Hertzberg Larsen, a
Norwegian
-born miner. Niels Larsen went to sea at 21 and arrived in
Melbourne
in 1855 to join the gold rush, along with partner
William Henry John Slee
.
[1]
Lawson's parents met at the goldfields of Pipeclay (now Eurunderee,
Locality Mudgee
). Niels and
Louisa Albury
(1848?1920) married on 7 July 1866 when he was 32 and she 18. On Henry's birth, the family surname was
Anglicised
and Niels became Peter Lawson. The newly married couple were to have an unhappy marriage. Louisa, after family-raising, took a significant part in women's movements, and edited a women's paper called
The Dawn
(published May 1888 to July 1905). She also published her son's first volume, and around 1904 brought out a volume of her own,
Dert and Do
, a simple story of 18,000 words. In 1905 she collected and published her own verses,
The Lonely Crossing and other Poems
. Louisa likely had a strong influence on her son's literary work in its earliest days.
[3]
Peter Lawson's grave (with headstone) is in the little private cemetery at
Hartley Vale
, New South Wales, a few minutes' walk behind what was Collitt's Inn.
Lawson attended school at Eurunderee from 2 October 1876 but experienced an ear infection around this time. It left him with partial deafness and by the age of fourteen he had lost his hearing entirely. However, his master John Tierney was kind and did all he could for Lawson, who was quite shy.
[3]
Lawson later attended a
Catholic
school at
Mudgee
, New South Wales around 8 km away; the master there, Mr Kevan, would teach Lawson about poetry. Lawson was a keen reader of
Dickens
and
Marryat
and Australian novels such as
Marcus Clarke
's
For the Term of His Natural Life
(1874) and
Rolf Boldrewood
's
Robbery Under Arms
(1882); an aunt had also given him a volume by
Bret Harte
. Reading became a major source of his education because, due to his deafness, he had trouble learning in the classroom.
In 1883, after working on building jobs with his father in the
Blue Mountains
, Lawson joined his mother in Sydney at her request. Louisa was then living with Henry's sister and brother. At this time, Lawson was working during the day and studying at night for his matriculation in the hopes of receiving a university education. However, he failed his exams. Lawson lived in a boarding house along
William Street
and wrote a poem titled
William Street
. Lawson also spent time in
Newcastle
at the Wickham School of Arts while working for the Hudson Brothers branch railway workshops. He remarked that he "haunted the School of Arts, still with an idea of learning before it was too late."
[4]
At around 20 years of age Lawson went to the eye and ear hospital in
Melbourne
but nothing could be done for his deafness.
[3]
In 1890 he began a relationship with
Mary Gilmore
.
[5]
She writes of an unofficial engagement and Lawson's wish to marry her, but it was broken by his frequent absences from Sydney. The story of the relationship is told in
Anne Brooksbank
's play
All My Love
.
[6]
[7]
In 1896, Lawson married Bertha Bredt, Jr., daughter of
Bertha Bredt
, the prominent socialist. The marriage ended very unhappily.
[8]
Bertha filed for divorce and in her
affidavit
she stated:
My husband has during three years and upwards been a habitual drunkard and habitually been guilty of cruelty towards me. My affidavit consists of the acts and matters following. That my husband during the last three years struck me in the face and about the body and blacked my eye and hit me with a bottle and attempted to stab me and pulled me out of bed when I was ill and purposely made a noise in my room when I was ill and pulled my hair and repeatedly used abusive and insulting language to me and was guilty of divers other acts of cruelty to me whereby my health and safety are endangered.
A judicial separation was granted and was declared in June 1903.
[9]
[10]
They had two children, son Jim (Joseph) and daughter Bertha.
Poetry and prose writing
[
edit
]
Henry Lawson's first published poem was 'A Song of the Republic' which appeared in
The Bulletin
, 1 October 1887; his mother's republican friends were an influence. This was followed by 'The Wreck of the
Derry Castle
' and then 'Golden Gully.' Prefixed to the former poem was an editorial note:
In publishing the subjoined verses we take pleasure in stating that the writer is a boy of 17 years, a young Australian, who has as yet had an imperfect education and is earning his living under some difficulties as a housepainter, a youth whose poetic genius here speaks eloquently for itself.
Lawson was 20 years old, not 17.
[3]
In 1890-1891 Lawson worked in
Albany
.
[11]
He then received an offer to write for the Brisbane
Boomerang
in 1891, but he lasted only around 7?8 months as the
Boomerang
was soon in trouble. While in Brisbane he contributed to
William Lane
's
Worker
; he later angled for an editorial position with the similarly named
Worker
of Sydney, but was unsuccessful.
[3]
He returned to Sydney and continued to write for the
Bulletin
which, in 1892, paid for an inland trip where he experienced the harsh realities of drought-affected New South Wales.
[12]
He also worked as a
roustabout
in the woolshed at
Toorale Station
.
[13]
This resulted in his contributions to the
Bulletin Debate
and became a source for many of his stories in subsequent years.
[1]
Elder
writes of the trek Lawson took between
Hungerford
and
Bourke
as "the most important trek in Australian literary history" and says that "it confirmed all his prejudices about the Australian bush. Lawson had no romantic illusions about a 'rural
idyll
'."
[14]
As Elder continues, his grim view of the outback was far removed from "the romantic idyll of brave horsemen and beautiful scenery depicted in the poetry of
Banjo Paterson
".
[15]
Lawson's most successful prose collection is
While the Billy Boils
, published in 1896.
[16]
In it he "continued his assault on Paterson and the romantics, and in the process, virtually reinvented Australian realism".
[12]
Elder writes that "he used short, sharp sentences, with language as raw as
Ernest Hemingway
or
Raymond Carver
. With sparse adjectives and honed-to-the-bone description, Lawson created a style and defined Australians: dryly laconic, passionately egalitarian and deeply humane."
[12]
Most of his work focuses on the
Australian bush
, such as the desolate "Past Carin'", and is considered by some to be among the first accurate descriptions of Australian life as it was at the time.
[
citation needed
]
"The Drover's Wife"
with its "heart-breaking depiction of bleakness and loneliness" is regarded as one of his finest short stories.
[17]
It is regularly studied in schools and has often been adapted for film and theatre.
[18]
Lawson was a firm believer in the merits of the
sketch story
, commonly known simply as 'the sketch,' claiming that "the sketch story is best of all."
[19]
Lawson's
Jack Mitchell
story
On the Edge of a Plain
is often cited as one of the most accomplished examples of the sketch.
[20]
Like the majority of Australians, Lawson lived in a city, but had had plenty of experience in outback life, in fact, many of his stories reflected his experiences in real life. In Sydney in 1898 he was a prominent member of the
Dawn and Dusk Club
, a bohemian club of writer friends who met for drinks and conversation.
Later years
[
edit
]
In 1903 he bought a room at Mrs Isabel Byers' Coffee Palace in North Sydney. This marked the beginning of a 20-year friendship between Mrs Byers and Lawson. Despite his position as the most celebrated Australian writer of the time, Lawson was deeply depressed and perpetually poor. He lacked money due to unfortunate royalty deals with publishers. His ex-wife repeatedly reported him for non-payment of child maintenance. He was gaoled at
Darlinghurst Gaol
for drunkenness, wife desertion, child desertion, and non-payment of child support seven times between 1905 and 1909, for a total of 159 days
[21]
[22]
and recorded his experience in the haunting poem "One Hundred and Three" (his prison number) which was published in 1908. He refers to the prison as "Starvinghurst Gaol" because of the meagre rations given to the inmates.
[23]
[24]
At this time, Lawson became withdrawn, alcoholic, and unable to carry on the usual routine of life.
Mrs Byers (nee Ward) was an excellent poet herself and, although of modest education, had been writing vivid poetry since her teens in a similar style to Lawson's. Long separated from her husband and elderly, Mrs Byers was, at the time she met Lawson, a woman of independent means looking forward to retirement. Byers regarded Lawson as Australia's greatest living poet, and hoped to sustain him well enough to keep him writing. She negotiated on his behalf with publishers, helped to arrange contact with his children, contacted friends and supporters to help him financially, and assisted and nursed him through his mental and alcohol problems. She wrote countless letters on his behalf and knocked on any doors that could provide Henry with financial assistance or a publishing deal.
[23]
[25]
It was in Mrs Isabel Byers' home that Henry Lawson died, of a cerebral hemorrhage, in
Abbotsford
, Sydney in 1922. He was given a state funeral. His death registration on the NSW Births, Deaths & Marriages index
[26]
is ref. 10451/1922 and was recorded at the Petersham Registration District.
[27]
It shows his parents as Peter and Louisa. His funeral was attended by the Prime Minister
Billy Hughes
and the (later) Premier of
New South Wales
,
Jack Lang
(who was the husband of Lawson's sister-in-law Hilda Bredt), as well as thousands of citizens. He is interred at
Waverley Cemetery
[28]
Lawson was the first person to be granted a New South Wales state funeral (traditionally reserved for Governors, Chief Justices, etc.) on the grounds of having been a 'distinguished citizen'.
[23]
Honours and legacy
[
edit
]
A bronze statue of Lawson accompanied by a swagman, a dog and a fencepost (reflecting his writing) stands in
The Domain, Sydney
.
[29]
The Henry Lawson Memorial committee raised money through public donation to commission the statue by sculptor
George Washington Lambert
in 1927. The work was unveiled on 28 July 1931 by the
Governor of New South Wales
, Sir
Philip Game
.
[30]
In 1949 Lawson was the subject of an Australian
postage stamp
.
Lawson's "The Drover's Wife" short story was featured on a 1991 $1.20 stamp,
[31]
and a 2017 $1.00 stamp,
[32]
both from Australia Post.
In 2017 Lawson was again featured on two Australian
postage stamps
, one featuring
Mitchell: A Character Sketch
and the other The Drover's Wife and family, including dog, pitted against the snake.
[33]
He was featured on the
first (paper) Australian ten-dollar note
issued in 1966 when
decimal currency
was first introduced into Australia. Lawson was pictured against scenes from the town of
Gulgong
in
NSW
.
[34]
This note was replaced by a polymer note in 1993; the polymer series had different people featured on the notes.
Lawson's treatment (or lack thereof) of
Aboriginal Australians
in his work has been criticised and debated.
[35]
[36]
[37]
Author
Ryan Butta
writes that there are some "glaring omissions" in Lawson's writings about
Bourke
, in particular the
Afghan cameleers
who were there at the time, and being written about in local newspapers, and who were responsible for opening up the interior of the continent.
[38]
In 2024, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Australia and Indonesia, Indonesian composer
Ananda Sukarlan
was commissioned to set one of his poems to music, and Sukarlan chose "On the Night Train". It was premiered by the soprano
Mariska Setiawan
and the strings of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Henry Lawson Festivals
[
edit
]
Currently the NSW towns of
Gulgong
[39]
and
Grenfell
[40]
both host Henry Lawson Festivals, with the Grenfell Festival also incorporating a literary competition.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Collections
[
edit
]
- Short Stories in Prose and Verse
(1894) - short stories, prose, poetry
- While the Billy Boils
(1896) - short stories
- In the Days When the World was Wide and Other Verses
(1896) - poetry
- Verses, Popular and Humorous
(1900) - poetry
- On the Track
(1900) - short stories
- Over the Sliprails
(1900) - short stories
- On the Track, and, Over the Sliprails
(1900) - short stories
- Popular Verses
(1900) - poetry
- Humorous Verses
(1900) - poetry
- The Country I Come From
(1901) - short stories
- Joe Wilson and His Mates
(1901) - short stories
- Children of the Bush
(1902) - short stories, prose, poetry
- When I Was King and Other Verses
(1905) - poetry
- The Elder Son
(1905) - poetry
- When I Was King
(1905) - poetry
- The Romance of the Swag
(1907) - short stories, prose
- Send Round the Hat
(1907) - short stories
- The Skyline Riders and Other Verses
(1910) - poetry
- The Rising of the Court and Other Sketches in Prose and Verse
(1910) - short stories, prose, poetry
- For Australia and Other Poems
(1913) - poetry
- Triangles of Life and Other Stories
(1913) - short stories
- My Army, O, My Army! and Other Songs
(1915) - poetry
- Song of the Dardanelles and Other Verses
(1916) - poetry
- Selected Poems of Henry Lawson
(1918) - poetry
Posthumous collections
[
edit
]
- Poems of Henry Lawson
(1973)
- The Best of Henry Lawson for Young Australians
(1973)
- The Drover's Wife and Other Stories
(1974)
- The World of Henry Lawson
(1974)
- The Poems of Henry Lawson
(1975)
- Poems of Henry Lawson : Volume Two
(1975)
- Favourite Stories
(1976)
- Henry Lawson : favourite verse
(1978)
- Henry Lawson Poems
(1979)
- Henry Lawson's Mates : The Complete Stories of Henry Lawson
(1979)
- The Essential Henry Lawson : The Best Works of Australia's Greatest Writer
(1982)
- A Camp-Fire Yarn: Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900
(1984)
- A Fantasy of Man: Henry Lawson Complete Works 1901-1922
(1984)
- Henry Lawson Favourites
(1984)
- Henry Lawson, The Master Story-Teller : Prose Writings
(1984)
- The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories
(1986)
- The Songs of Henry Lawson
(1989)
- The Roaring Days
(1994) (aka
The Henry Lawson Collection Vol. 1
)
- On the Wallaby Track
(1994) (aka
The Henry Lawson Collection Vol. 2
)
Popular poems, short stories and sketches
[
edit
]
- "
A Song of the Republic
" (poem, 1887)
- "
Australian Loyalty
" (essay, 1887)
- "
Faces in the Street
" (poem, 1888)
- "
Andy's Gone with Cattle
" (poem, 1888)
- "
United Division
" (essay, 1888)
- "
The Roaring Days
" (poem, 1889)
- "
The Teams
" (poem, 1889)
- "
A Neglected History
" (essay)
- "
The Song of Old Joe Swallow
" (poem, 1890)
- "
Freedom on the Wallaby
" (poem, 1891)
- "
The Babies of Walloon
" (poem, 1891)
- "
The Bush Undertaker
" (short story, 1892)
- "
The City Bushman
" (poem, 1892)
- "
Up The Country
" (poem, 1892)
- "
The Grog-an'-Grumble Steeplechase
" (poem, 1892)
- "
The Drover's Wife
" (short story, 1892)
- "
Saint Peter
" (poem, 1893)
- "
The Union Buries Its Dead
" (short story, 1893)
- "
Steelman's Pupil
" (short story, 1895)
- "
The Geological Spieler
" (short story, 1896)
- "
The Iron-Bark Chip
" (short story, 1900)
- "
The Loaded Dog
" (short story, 1901)
- "
A Child in the Dark, and a Foreign Father
" (short story, 1902)
- "
Triangles of Life, and other stories
" (short stories, 1916)
- "
Scots of the Riverina
" (poem, 1917)
Recurring characters
[
edit
]
Lawson in popular culture
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Matthews, Brian.
"Lawson, Henry (1867?1922)"
.
Australian Dictionary of Biography
. Canberra: National Centre of Biography,
Australian National University
.
ISBN
978-0-522-84459-7
.
ISSN
1833-7538
.
OCLC
70677943
. Retrieved
30 September
2012
.
- ^
Elder, Bruce (2008), "In Lawson's tracks [The Henry Lawson Trail from Bourke (NSW) to Hungerford (Qld). Paper in: Re-imagining Australia. Schultz, Julianne (ed.).]",
Griffith Review
(19): 115,
ISBN
978-0-7333-2281-5
,
ISSN
1448-2924
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Percival Serle
(1949).
"Lawson, Henry (1867 - 1922)"
.
Dictionary of Australian Biography
.
Angus and Robertson
. Retrieved
17 July
2009
.
- ^
University of Newcastle, Special Collections (10 September 2018).
"Henry Lawson and the Wickham School of Arts"
.
Hunter Living Histories
. Retrieved
30 March
2021
.
- ^
Wilde, W. H. "Gilmore, Dame Mary Jean (1865?1962)".
Australian Dictionary of Biography
. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.
- ^
"Literary lovers: Henry Lawson and Mary Gilmore"
.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. 16 July 2015.
- ^
"All My Love - Glen Street Theatre"
. Archived from
the original
on 3 March 2016.
- ^
Falkiner, Suzanne
(1992),
Wilderness
, Simon & Schuster, p. 64,
ISBN
978-0-7318-0144-2
- ^
Davies, Kerrie.
A wife's heart
. St Lucia, Qld.
ISBN
9780702259197
.
OCLC
960694840
.
- ^
Davies, Kerrie (1 April 2017).
"Henry Lawson's marriage a dark tale of drink and domestic violence"
.
The Australian
. Retrieved
30 March
2018
.
- ^
Falkiner, Suzanne (1992),
Wilderness
, Simon & Schuster, p. 62,
ISBN
978-0-7318-0144-2
- ^
a
b
c
Elder, Bruce (2008), "In Lawson's tracks [The Henry Lawson Trail from Bourke (NSW) to Hungerford (Qld). Paper in: Re-imagining Australia. Schultz, Julianne (ed.).]",
Griffith Review
(19): 113,
ISBN
978-0-7333-2281-5
,
ISSN
1448-2924
- ^
"Toorale"
.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. 1 December 2008
. Retrieved
18 June
2014
.
- ^
Elder, Bruce (2008), "In Lawson's tracks [The Henry Lawson Trail from Bourke (NSW) to Hungerford (Qld). Paper in: Re-imagining Australia. Schultz, Julianne (ed.).]",
Griffith Review
(19): 95,
ISBN
978-0-7333-2281-5
,
ISSN
1448-2924
- ^
Elder, Bruce (2008), "In Lawson's tracks [The Henry Lawson Trail from Bourke (NSW) to Hungerford (Qld). Paper in: Re-imagining Australia. Schultz, Julianne (ed.).]",
Griffith Review
(19): 96,
ISBN
978-0-7333-2281-5
,
ISSN
1448-2924
- ^
Falkiner, Suzanne (1992),
Wilderness
, Simon & Schuster, p. 63,
ISBN
978-0-7318-0144-2
- ^
Elder (2008) p. 113
- ^
Wells, Rachel (17 May 2005).
"Keeping bush ballads alive and well"
.
The Age
. Retrieved
11 December
2013
.
- ^
Lawson, Henry (1984). "Three or Four Archibalds and the Writer". In Leonard Cronin (ed.).
A fantasy of man: Henry Lawson complete works, 1901-1922
. Lansdowne. p. 987.
ISBN
0701818751
.
- ^
Lawson, Henry (1986). Introduction by John Barnes (ed.).
The Penguin Henry Lawson short stories
. Penguin. pp.
11?12
.
ISBN
0140092153
.
- ^
"Henry Lawson to Fred Shenstone from Darlinghurst Gaol (with inserts from Angus, Robertson & Shenstone publishers)"
.
University of Sydney Library
. Retrieved
22 March
2019
.
- ^
"Henry Lawson to Reverend John Walker from Darlinghurst Gaol"
.
University of Sydney Library
. Retrieved
22 March
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Henry Lawson ? poet of the people"
.
Discover Collections
. State Library of NSW. 4 September 2015
. Retrieved
2 August
2017
.
- ^
"One Hundred and Three - Henry Lawson - Poem - Australian Poetry Library"
.
www.poetrylibrary.edu.au
.
- ^
Lawson, Olive (2004).
The Good Wards of Windsor
. Deerubbin. pp. 49?53.
ISBN
0975099132
.
- ^
"NSW Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages"
. 21 January 2020.
- ^
"NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages"
. Archived from
the original
on 25 November 2014
. Retrieved
11 December
2013
.
- ^
"Henry Lawson's Grave · 8 Pembroke St, Bronte NSW 2024, Australia"
.
- ^
"The Domain, Henry Lawson statue"
.
Sydney - City and Suburbs
.
Blogger
. 2 February 2010
. Retrieved
12 February
2014
.
- ^
"George W. Lambert retrospective"
.
National Gallery of Australia
. Retrieved
12 February
2014
.
- ^
"Stamp: The Drover's Wife - Henry Lawson (Australia) (Literature) Mi:AU 1269,Sn:AU 1230,Yt:AU 1227,Sg:AU 1308,Sev:AU 1316"
.
- ^
"Henry Lawson: 1867-1922"
.
- ^
"Australia Post celebrates Henry Lawson with new stamps - Australia Post Newsroom"
.
auspost.newsroom.com.au
.
- ^
"Museum of Australian Currency Notes"
. Reserve Bank of Australia. Archived from
the original
on 22 August 2005
. Retrieved
11 December
2013
.
- ^
Lee, Christopher (2002).
"The status of the Aborigine in the writing of Henry Lawson: a reconsideration"
.
The La Trobe Journal
(70): 74?83.
ISSN
1441-3760
. Retrieved
3 August
2022
– via USQ ePrints.
PDF
and
here
- ^
Daley, Paul (26 February 2018).
"When Douglas Grant met Henry Lawson: new light on Australia's dark story"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
3 August
2022
.
- ^
"Colonialism and Racism [in "The Drover's Wife"]"
.
LitCharts
. 28 March 2019
. Retrieved
3 August
2022
.
- ^
Kelsey-Sugg, Anna (3 August 2022).
"Ryan Butta says Afghan cameleers were ignored by Henry Lawson, and our national story is the poorer for it"
.
ABC News
.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. Retrieved
3 August
2022
.
- ^
"Henry Lawson Heritage Festival 2023"
.
- ^
"Henry Lawson Festival | Grenfell, NSW | Recognising Artistic Australians"
.
henrylawsonfestival.com.au
. 4 February 2022.
- ^
"The Campfire Yarns of Henry Lawson - Fine Poets"
. Archived from
the original
on 6 March 2012.
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Phillips, A. A.
(March 1965). "Henry Lawson revisited".
Meanjin Quarterly
.
24
(1): 4?17.
- Wright, Judith
(1967).
Henry Lawson
. Great Australians. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
- Clark, Manning
(1978). In Search of Henry Lawson. Melbourne. The MacMillan Company of Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Ollif, Lorna (1978). 'Louisa Lawson - Henry Lawson's Crusading Mother'. Rigby Limited.
External links
[
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]
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