Henry Lawson

Who is Henry Lawson?

Henry Lawson was born in 1867 on the goldfields at Grenfell, New South Wales, and grew up in poverty, becoming partially deaf as a child. He rose to prominence as one of Australia's greatest short-story writers and poets, celebrated for his realistic depiction of the harsh Australian bush and the lives of ordinary working people. His story collection While the Billy Boils (1896) and verse such as "The Drover's Wife" and "Faces in the Street" combined social realism with sympathy for the struggling poor. A prominent contributor to The Bulletin, Lawson engaged in a famous published "Bulletin Debate" with Banjo Paterson over the romanticism of bush life. Despite fame he struggled with alcoholism and financial hardship for much of his life. When he died in 1922 he was given a state funeral, a rare honour reflecting his standing as a national literary figure.

Sources: Henry Lawson, 'While the Billy Boils' (1896) · Henry Lawson, 'The Drover's Wife' (short story, 1892) · Australian Dictionary of Biography, entry 'Lawson, Henry'