The Poetry of Henry Lawson

      Chronological list of poetry (contains over 600 poems written by Henry Lawson)

      Alphabetical list of poetry (list only)

      Links to the books of Henry Lawson on the internet, including his prose works (short stories, essays and articles)

      Bertha Lawson on Henry Lawson

             Commenced in 1998, and re-launched in 2010 on the anniversary of Henry Lawson's birth, it is the aim of this site to reproduce most, or all, of the poetical works of Henry Lawson, so that his legacy to Australia's culture may be accessed on the Internet by all interested persons. It should be noted that this is an extremely large project, and will therefore take quite some time to complete.

             Henry Lawson was born on the Grenfell goldfields, on 17th June 1867.
             He is one of the most famous and most popular of all Australian writers. His poetry and short stories are still widely read and republished today.
             His writings were a significant influence upon the development of the Australian culture and national identity, and played a strong part in the expression of that identity.
             Henry Lawson continued his vast literary output right up until his death on 2nd September 1922.
             A short biographical account of the life of Henry Lawson can be found at the Australian Dictionary of Biography Online website.

             Recommended references for the writings of Henry Lawson are A Camp-Fire Yarn: Henry Lawson, Complete Works 1885-1900 and A Fantasy of Man: Henry Lawson, Complete Works 1900-1922 (both first published by Lansdowne, Sydney, 1984), compiled and edited by Leonard Cronin.
             If you are interested in the works of Henry Lawson, these volumes are well worth purchasing, as they include all of Lawson's poetry and prose writings that were known of at that time (although a handful of others have since been discovered); also included is some biographical information.
             Another volume of interest is The Songs of Henry Lawson (published by Viking O'Neil, 1989), compiled by Chris Kempster, which has music written for over one hundred of Henry Lawson's poems. Due to the nature of writing music to fit poems, many of the songs in the book are not exactly the same as the original poetry, but that is a minor consideration. For those interested in the works of Henry Lawson, this book is well worth looking at.





          Henry Lawson on the old Australian $10 note