Henry Lawson is the most famous and influential Australian literary figure of the nineteenth century. From poor rural beginnings he achieved a popular, ongoing nationwide reputation that is unlikely ever to be equaled. A poet, short-story writer, and sometime journalist, Lawson lived on his writing and whatever odd jobs came his way. Personal, social, and marital problems exacerbated his later decline into alcoholism, and his literary reputation largely rests on the short stories produced in the decade that led up to the federation of the Australian colonies in 1901. His popular bush ballads have provided an accessible form for the historical dissemination of Australia's pioneering rural heritage, however, and they continue to reach a wide popular audience and to inspire contemporary imitators. Years after his impoverished death he remains a national icon.

Born in the goldfield town of Grenfell in central New South Wales on 17 June 1867, Henry Archibald Lawson...