Australian Bush

The Month's New Reading

The Voice Of The

Three huge, 500-page books, the collected works of one author, are a bit much to swallow at one sitting, even though the author—as one contemporary has it—was the Voice of the Australian Bush.

HHE three volumes are The Stories L of Henry Lawson, First, Second ad Third Series—all excellent for Electors of Australiana although, )r reading purposes, they might ave been more appreciated if the ablishers had not brought them out 1 at once.

Henry Lawson was born in a iners tent at Grenfell, NSW, in 167 at a time when life was grim id tough in a way that is difficult to iderstand these days. He died in *22, at the early age of 55, and in e last 30 of his years he had, in ct, been the voice of the Australia his day.

His father was a Norwegian sailor ho, like thousands at that time, iserted his ship to go to the gold ggings at Ballarat in Victoria, and enceforth followed successive gold shes. When these petered out, he ok any work offering and finally came a builder, of sorts.

Forceful Lawson’s mother had been born western NSW, into the grimness the times, but she developed into forceful personality of whom mry, even as a grown man, stood awe. He called her The Chief ness, and from her he inherited ; republicanism that was popular the time and a talent for writing— which she also indulged.

Mrs. Lawson (it had originally en Larsen) was one of Austra ’s first advocates for women’s hts and about 1886 she had moved Sydney and was publishing a irnal called Dawn, which was the >uth-piece of her organisation.

In the following year Henry was bhshed for the first time—in the m of verse which he called The ng of the Republic. It was in the Jney Bulletin, the then fiercely ionalistic, republican weekly which uched every early Australian iter worthy of the name.

Lawson took his brain-child along

to the Bulletin office late at night and thrust it into the hand of a woman who happened to open the door. Thereafter, for weeks, he watched the “Answers to Cor respondents” column, only to find eventually that Archibald the then editor, was keeping the Song for some special occasion.

Even in his most successful period, writing barely supported him and in the manner of the time he worked at every conceivable job—when the (over)

mood was upon him. Most often he painted houses, or carriages. During the second of his New Zealand periods he was appointed teacher in a small Maori school—although his wife Bertha apparently did most of the teaching while Henry wrote.

At a later stage he was manoeuvred into a job in the Government Statistician’s Office, and towards the end of his life some friends banded together to “save him from himself” by sending him to a fruit farm on the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area where he was supposed to rusticate and “dry” out.

A natural eccentric and a Bohemian, he was also a hard drinker. This became accentuated after the three abortive years in England at the beginning of the century and shortened his life.

Although Lawson lived the biggest part of his life in cities, and probably preferred it, his best writing is of the Bush—and of the Bush at a time when this epitomised Australian man.

The three volumes are edited by Cecil Mann, who for 35 years was on the staff of the Bulletin. He knew Lawson and made a special study of his work.

A feature of these three volumes is the notes made by Mann on individual stories and of Lawson at

the time he wrote them.-

JT.

(The Stories Op Henry Lawson,

1st, 2nd and 3rd Series. Angus & Robert son. 35/-, 35/- and 45/- respectively).