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Anniversary of the birth of
Henry Lawson
Nationalist writer
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You bid me make a farce of day, and make a mockery of death;
While not five thousand miles away, the yellow millions pant for breath!
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Henry Lawson was an Australian nationalist, who cared deeply about the future of our people. His writings included a desire for social justice and a belief in a predominantly white Australia, and his poetry included many nationalist sentiments that are still relevant to our society today.
Along with Banjo Paterson, he is one of the most famous and most popular of all Australian writers. His work was a strong part in the expression and development of the Australian national identity. He continued his vast literary output right up until his death in 1922. Lawson's poetry and short stories are still widely read and republished.
From goldfields baby to bush writer
Henry Lawson was born on the Grenfell goldfields of New South Wales on 17th June 1867. His mother was Louisa Lawson, a prominent activist for women's rights, who was the owner and editor of The Dawn magazine, and was said to have been an influence which led to Australia becoming one of the first countries to give women the right to vote. His father was Niels Larsen, a Norwegian seaman who settled in Australia (when Henry was born, the family surname was anglicised from Larsen to Lawson). Henry Lawson married Bertha Bredt Jr., daughter of Bertha Bredt, who was a prominent feminist and socialist.
Most of Lawson's works focus on the Australian bush, and his writings are considered by many to be amongst the first truly accurate descriptions of Australian life of that time, rather than romanticising the bush like previous writers. Lawson lived in a city, as did the majority of Australians, and had limited experience of outback life; although he travelled through the bush to gain an experience of it.
Nationalist writings
Besides his cultural Australianism, his works reflect his political ideology. Lawson condemned the apathy of Australians in the face of the constant threat of Asianisation. In his poem "To Be Amused" (written in 1906), Lawson says:
A war with reason you would wage
To be amused for your short span,
Until your children's heritage
Is claimed for China by Japan
You bid me make a farce of day,
And make a mockery of death;
While not five thousand miles away
The yellow millions pant for breath!
Henry Lawson saw that the destiny of Australia would be determined by the Australian People, that we could not rely on outsiders to come to our aid, and so he urged people to prepare themselves to fight for the future of Australia. In his poem "In the Storm That Is To Come" (1904) his words speak for themselves, and are relevant today:
By our place in the midst of the furthest seas we were fated to stand alone -
When the nations fly at each other's throats let Australia look to her own;
Let her spend her gold on the barren west, let her keep her men at home;
For the South must look to the South for strength in the storm that is to come
And again, in "Australia's Peril" (1905):
Keep the wealth you have won from the cities,
spend the wealth you have won on the land,
Save the floods that run into the ocean -
save the floods that sink into the sand!
Make farms fit to live on, build workshops
and technical schools for your sons;
Keep the wealth of the land in Australia -
make your owns cloth, machines, and guns!
Clear out the Calico Jimmy,
the nigger, the Chow, and his pals;
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Be your foreword for years: Irrigation!
Make a network of lakes and canals!
See that your daughters have children,
and see that Australia is home,
And so be prepared, a strong nation,
for the storm that must surely must come
In his day, as in ours, Nationalists had to put up with people who were too quick to say "Australia's finished". Against the whining of such defeatists, in his poem "My Land and I" (1903), Lawson wrote:
The parasites dine at your table's spread
(As my enemies did at mine),
And they croak and gurgle "Australia's dead"
While they guzzle Australian wine.
But we heed them never, my land, my land,
For we know how small they are,
And we see the signs of a future grand,
As we gaze on a rising star.
Political rebel
Lawson wrote of a future where major changes would be necessary to free Australia from exploitation and domination. Today, such exploitation is represented by the internationalists, Multiculturalists, Asianisers, and other nation-killers. Whilst the rebellion Australia needs today is not one of violence, but of a cultural revolution of ideas and ideology, patriots can still appreciate Lawson's fictional poetry where he writes of a time when traitor politicians would be pushed aside and the pro-Australian rebels surge on to victory:
So we must fly a rebel flag
As others did before us,
And we must sing a rebel song
And join in rebel chorus
We'll make the tyrants feel the sting
O' those that they would throttle;
They needn't say the fault is ours
If blood should stain the wattle!
("Freedom on the Wallaby", 1891)
And lo! with shops all shuttered, I beheld a city street
And in the warning distance heard the tramp of many feet...
Yes, the star of revolution's shining now as redly bright,
And the shots from Eureka sound as sharp and near to-night.
("Land of Living Lies", 1909)
'Twas of such stuff the men were made who saw our nation born,
And such as Lalor were the men who led their footsteps on;
And of such men there'll many be, and of such leaders some,
In the roll-up of Australians on some dark day yet to come.
("Eureka", 1889)
A hard life
Lawson's life was not an easy one. At the tender age of seven, he suffered an ear infection that left him partialy deaf, and by the age of fourteen he had lost his hearing entirely. His marriage to Bertha broke down, and they separated. Although he was probably Australia's best-known writer, he became destitute and was reduced to begging for money, and became an alcoholic. He was jailed at Darlinghurst Gaol for drunkenness and non-payment of alimony, and wrote of his experience in the poem "One Hundred and Three" (his prison number), which was published in 1908; in it, he refers to the prison as "Starvinghurst Gaol" because of the inadequate meals given to the prisoners.
Henry died in Sydney on the 2nd of September 1922, and was given a state funeral (the first for an Australian writer), which was attended by thousands of people, including the Prime Minister, William Hughes, and the Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang (who was the husband of Lawson's sister-in-law, Hilda Bredt). He was buried at Waverley Cemetery in Sydney.
Lawson was later featured on the Australian ten dollar note, which was used from its issue in 1966 (when decimal currency was first introduced into Australia) until 1993 (when the old paper notes were replaced by the new polymer notes).
Henry Lawson has been acclaimed as Australia's national poet. He and his works are an integral part of our national identity and culture, and remain an inspiration to Australian nationalists of today in their struggle for the future of Australia.
* It should be noted that the phrasing used in Lawson's writings were correct for his time period, in that the usage of terms not regarded as "politically correct" today were quite acceptable at that time, and were not regarded as "offensive".
The standard references for the writings of Henry Lawson are:
A Camp-Fire Yarn: Henry Lawson, Complete Works 1885-1900, first published by Lansdowne, Sydney, 1984.
A Fantasy of Man: Henry Lawson, Complete Works 1900-1922, first published by Lansdowne, Sydney, 1984.
Note: An internet site of Henry Lawson's poetry is The Poetry of Henry Lawson.
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