Henry Lawson

Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and poet. Along with Banjo Paterson, he is remembered as one of the best Australian writers. He wrote about life in the Australian bush.

Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson, circa 1902
Born	(1867-06-17)17 June 1867 Grenfell Goldfields, New South Wales, Australia
Died	2 September 1922(1922-09-02) (aged 55) Sydney, Australia
Occupation(s)	Author, Poet Balladist
Spouse	Bertha Marie Louise Bredt
Children	Joseph Bertha

Lawson was an nationalist and republican, and he wanted Australia to become and independent nation. Lawson wrote many stories and articles for The Bulletin. He used the Australian language in his stories. From the 1890s he suffered from alcoholism and mental illness which meant he did not write as much in his later years. He never had much money, and spent time 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.

His mother was Louisa Lawson, a poet, publisher and feminist.

Posthumous collections

• A Camp-Fire Yarn: Henry Lawson Complete Works 1885-1900 (1984)
• A Fantasy of Man: Henry Lawson Complete Works 1901-1922 (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

• "A Child in the Dark, and a Foreign Father" (short story, 1902)
• "A Neglected History" (essay)
• "Andy's Gone with Cattle" (poem)
• "Australian Loyalty" (essay, 1887)
• "Freedom on the Wallaby" (poem, 1891)
• "Saint Peter" (poem, 1893)
• "Scots of the Riverina" (poem, 1917)
• "Steelman's Pupil" (short story)
• "The Babies of Walloon (poem, 1891)
• "The Bush Undertaker" (short story, 1892)
• "The City Bushman" (poem, 1892)
• "The Drover's Wife" (short story, 1892)
• "The Geological Spieler" (short story, 1896)
• "The Iron-Bark Chip" (short story, 1900)
• "The Loaded Dog" (short story, 1901)
• "The Teams" (poem, 1896)
• "The Union Buries Its Dead" (short story, 1893)
• "Triangles of Life, and other stories" (short stories, 1916)
• "United Division" (essay, 1888)
• "Up The Country" (poem, 1892)

Recurring characters

• Joe Wilson
  • "Brighten's Sister-in-law"
  • "A Double Buggy at Lahey Creek"
  • "Water Them Geraniums"
  • "Joe Wilson's Courtship"
• Jack Mitchell
  • "Mitchell: A Character Sketch"
  • "On The Edge Of A Plain"
  • "'Some Day'"
  • "Shooting The Moon"
  • "Our Pipes"
  • "Bill, the Ventriloquial Rooster"
  • "Enter Mitchell"
  • "Mitchell Doesn't Believe in the Sack"
  • "Another of Mitchell's Plans"
• Steelman and Smith
  • "The Geological Spieler"
  • "Steelman's Pupil"
  • "An Oversight of Steelman’s"
  • "How Steelman told his Story"
  • "A Gentleman Sharper and Steelman Sharper"
• Dave Regan, Jim Bently and/or Andy Page
  • "The Loaded Dog"
  • "The Iron-Bark Chip"
  • "Andy Page's Rival"
  • "The Mystery of Dave Regan"
  • "Poisonous Jimmy Gets Left"

Related pages

• List of poets from Oceania
• Bulletin Debate

Other websites

• Lawson, Henry (1867-1922) National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Henry Lawson
• Works by Henry Lawson at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Henry Lawson at Project Gutenberg Australia
• Poetry Archive: 125 poems of Henry Lawson
• Henry Lawson and Louisa Lawson Online Chronology Archived 2006-01-12 at the Wayback Machine
• Henry Lawson - Essays, Short Stories and Verse Collections
• The Songs of Henry Lawson Compiled by Chris Kempster - Second enlarged Edition March 2008 Archived 2008-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
• The Drover’s Wife Archived 2009-03-18 at the Wayback Machine at jbrowley.com