Australian Poetry
The Noble Hero, the Savage Land and
Mateship
The Early Poets
In the early European settlement years, the poets
tended to concentrate on
 the differences between Australia and their own
homeland
 Expressing their thoughts and feelings in the
same language and form as the English classical
poets
 Describing rather than narrating
 E.g. James Cuthbertson(1851- 1910) “Australian
Sunrise”
James Cuthbertson
The Australian Sunrise
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The Morning Star paled slowly, the Cross hung low to the
sea,
And down the shadowy reaches the tide came swirling free,
The lustrous purple blackness of the soft Australian night,
Waned in the gray awakening that heralded the light;
Still in the dying darkness, still in the forest dim
The pearly dew of the dawning clung to each giant limb,
Till the sun came up from ocean, red with the cold sea mist,
And smote on the limestone ridges, and the shining treetops kissed;
Then the fiery Scorpion vanished, the magpie's note was
heard,
And the wind in the she-oak wavered, and the honeysuckles
stirred,
The airy golden vapour rose from the river breast,
The kingfisher came darting out of his crannied nest,
And the bulrushes and reed-beds put off their sallow gray
And burnt with cloudy crimson at dawning of the day.
James Lister Cuthbertson
James Cuthbertson
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Wattle and Myrtle
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Gold of the tangled wilderness of wattle,
Break in the lone green hollows of the hills,
Flame on the iron headlands of the ocean,
Gleam on the margin of the hurrying rills.
Come with thy saffron diadem and scatter
Odours of Araby that haunt the air,
Queen of our woodland, rival of the roses,
Spring in the yellow tresses of thy hair.
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( When we come to look at the poetry note the language
differences between Cuthbertson and Paterson/Lawson even
though they were contemporaries)
The Colonial Poets
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As time moved on, a number of the poets began to write
narratives, story telling poems and ballads telling of the
unique features of Australia. The descriptive and
expressive language changed to reflect the simplicity of
Australian life.
Two of these poets, Banjo Paterson(1864-1941) and
Henry Lawson( 1867-1922) saw Australia and its
pioneers from different points of view
Those points of view were shaped by their own
upbringing, environment and temperaments and were
expressed in their battles in the pages of “ The Bulletin”
magazine
The Discourses of The Noble Hero, Mateship and The
Savage Land were discourses which they used to explore
the relationships of the Land and its people
Lawson’s Roaring Days as
envisioned by Pro Hart
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.
Henry Lawson
wrote of:
The savage land
The struggles of
the working class
The hardships of
the city and bush
The disappearing
comrades
The past glories
and what might
have been
Mateship
Lawson’s short stories
Henry Lawson is also known for his short stories
– the most famous being “The Loaded Dog”
 His short stories are snapshots of Australian life
at the time, with the focus on the characters of
the outback, outback life and bush humour.
Within the stories is a sense of pathos and
nostalgia for a simpler life. The stories delighted
the readers of the time and are just as effective
today in painting pictures of ‘turn of the century’
Australian life in the bush.

Paterson wrote of the nobler side
of life in the bush
The noble hero
 The Larrikin
 The beauty of
the bush
 The ugliness of
the city
 Mateship at its
finest
 The heroic idea of
Australia at the turn
Of the century

City v. Bush

One common aspect in the work of both poets
was their loathing for the city life - Paterson
saw the bush life as predominantly noble – while
Lawson was much more ambivalent – he
struggled with the harshness of bush life and at
times privileged the discourse of the savage
land. Both men, however, spent the major part
of their lives in the city.
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Poems such as Faces in the Street( Lawson) and
Clancy of the Overflow ( Paterson) exemplify the
division between bush and city life.
Faces in the Street
“ The human river dwindles when 'tis past the hour of
eight,
Its waves go flowing faster in the fear of being late;
But slowly drag the moments, whilst beneath the dust and
heat
The city grinds the owners of the faces in the street
Grinding body, grinding soul,
Yielding scarce enough to eat
Oh! I sorrow for the owners of the faces in the street.”
Here Lawson is scathing of the effects of city life
Clancy of the Overflow
So, too, is Paterson…
“I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy
Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,
And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city
Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all

And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle Of the tramways and the buses making hurry
down the street,
And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,
Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet. “
Images of Henry Lawson

Rare first edition paid for by his mother,
Louisa
Death mask Hand
of Lawson
Lawson’s pen
And
manuscript
Images of Banjo Paterson
Manuscript for Walzing
Matilda
www.naa.gov.au/.../
treasures/treasures.html
The Bush
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What is it about 'the bush' that is so special to
Australians?
For the best part of two centuries the bush has been
analysed, criticised and romanticised. It has inspired
poets, painters, filmmakers and television producers;
preoccupied the nation's politicians; and fixated our
social commentators. It has evoked both love and terror,
and fascinated generations of Australians.
There is no doubt that the bush has an iconic status in
Australian life and has featured strongly in any debate
about national identity. Indeed, it has been revered as a
source of national ideals by the likes of Henry Lawson
and Banjo Paterson.
The Bush
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How real is the bush myth?
Those who saw the bush as integral to Australian identity
were very much urban-based. Lawson and Paterson were
city dwellers, and so were the painters of the Heidelberg
School - the likes of Tom Roberts and Fredrick McCubbin.
They defined the Australian landscape from afar and
imposed meaning on it.
A homespun mythology
Lawson believed that an Australian identity must emanate
from its own soil, not from the safe green fields of the
mother country, Britain. He was not alone in this view.
Poets and novelists such as Banjo Paterson, Miles Franklin,
EJ Brady and Barbara Baynton, among others, were inspired
by the experiences of Australians living and working in the
bush. Australian artists such as Tom Roberts, Charles
Condor, Hans Heysen and Arthur Streeton began to paint
Australian images and helped create the Australian bush
legend.
Lawson
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Discourses
The savage land
The struggles of
the working class
The hardships of
the city and bush
The disappearing
comrades
The past glories
and what might
have been
Mateship
Paterson
The noble hero
The Larrikin
The beauty of
the bush
The ugliness of
the city
Mateship at its
finest
The heroic idea of
Australia at the turn
Of the century
THE TEAMS by Henry Lawson ( Identify the discourse)
A cloud of dust on the long white road,
And the teams go creeping on
Inch by inch with the weary load;
And by the power of the greenhide goad
The distant goal is won
.
With eyes half-shut to the blinding dust,
And necks to the yokes bent low,
The beasts are pulling as bullocks must;
And the shining tires might almost rust
While the spokes are turning slow.
THE TEAMS by Henry Lawson ( Identify the discourse)
With face half-hid 'neath a broad-brimmed hat
That shades from the heat's white waves, And shouldered
whip with its greenhide plait,
The driver plods with a gait like that
Of his weary, patient slaves……..
And thus- with glimpses of home and restAre the long, long journeys done;
And thus –’tis a thankless life at the best!Is Distance fought in the mighty West
And the lonely battle won
.
A bullock team
E. Banathy Year 11
Clancy of the Overflow – Paterson ( Identify the Discourse)
In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of
Clancy
Gone a-droving "down the Cooper" where the
Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides
behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the
townsfolk never know.
And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their
kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its
bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains
extended,
And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting
stars.
The Drover
Perceptions of the poetry of
Paterson and Lawson
Do you agree/ disagree with these comments?
 “trite”
 “doggerel”
 “nostalgic and sentimental”
 “magnificent images of life at the time”
 ‘presenting images of a growing awareness of bush “
 “the poetry of tortured souls”
 “romanticised images”
 “bleak, exaggerated images “
Exercise
Select one of the Paterson or Lawson poems and:
 What does the poem reflect about the society
for which was written?