HENRY LAWSON 1915
(Johnson, 1915)
One of the miners attracted to the Mudgee / Gulgong district by the gold rush was a bloke called Niels Peter Larsen, who married a woman by the name of Louisa Albury in Mudgee in 1866, changing their names to Peter and Louisa Lawson with the birth of their son Henry in Grenfell 1867.
Grenfell - The Early Days - Gold, Gold, Gold
This is a photo reputed by the department of Mines to be an early depiction of the Grenfell Gold Fields. This is in keeping with the historical background of Grenfell being founded due to the discovery of Gold on O’Brien’s Hill in 1866.
https://www.grenfellrecord.com.au/story/2520876/grenfell-the-early-days-gold-gold-gold-l-photos/
NIELS HERTZBERG PEDERSEN & LOUISA ALBURY - HENRY LAWSONS PARENTS
(Niels Hertzberg “Peter” Larsen, n.d.)
EURUNDEREE, THE SETTING OF HENRY LAWSWON'S CHILDHOOD
Many of Lawson’s stories and poems are framed in the Mudgee district’s scenery where he grew till the age of 15.
Henry was just six months old when the Lawson's moved to Pipeclay, where they would eventually build and open what would be the local post office.
SKETCH BY CHARLES WILLIAM LAWSON OF THE FAMILY HOME AT EURENDEREE
(Photographs of Henry Lawson's funeral, Waverley Cemetery, 1922 and various residences], n.d.)
Peter was a carpenter building not only the family home, but also many more buildings in the district including Henry's school at Eurenderee.
Louisa had been instrumental in lobbying for the school to be built, though had not been allowed to attend the subsequent meeting to discuss the proposal by the local men and had to watch through a crack in the wall.
LUMINOUS COLLECTION
THE MONOLITH - SANDLEWOOD WATCH
Built by Peter Lawson in 1876, you can find these colonial ruins on Henry Lawson Drive 8 km north of Mudgee, in a place called Eurenderee, known as Pipeclay in Lawson’s time.
The house was demolished soon after the end of the Second World War.
(Photographs of Henry Lawson's funeral, Waverley Cemetery, 1922 and various residences], n.d.)
Surrounded by vineyards, today it is found at the entrance of Lawson Hill Estate , a tract of land the Lawson's first squatted on prior to moving to Gulgong in 1871, before returning a couple of years later in 1873, when Henry was six years old, to take up a 40 acre holding, which would include a post office
(Henry Lawson and Lawson Hill Estate., n.d.)
SKETCH BY CHARLES WILLIAM LAWSON OF THE FAMILY HOME AT EURENDEREE
(Photographs of Henry Lawson's funeral, Waverley Cemetery, 1922 and various residences], n.d.)
Louisa Lawson and her son Charles William in front of their bark hut, Gulgong area.
(Henry Lawson: poet of the people, 1870 - 1875)
"One day mother and father packed all the things and next morning we were called early; there was a dray at the door and we heard a great scraping overhead. Suddenly we saw the sky and next moment we were nearly blinded by a shower of pungent stringy-bark dust. Father was taking off the roof of the hut, for we carried the house with us in those days." - Henry Lawson
AQUA CASTLE COLLECTION
The Lawsons had issues deeds and the Department of Lands taking several months to acquire their necessary documents.
Their 40 acres was positioned over the line of gold, so Peter still had the gold bug; sinking quite a few shafts.
Peter managed to fence off 10 acres, however, all plans to farm their land were futile as the land itself was too steep to plough and had poor soil which had been gouged by gold-seekers and covered with pipeclay and quartz, with Peter having filled in 24 holes before giving in.
"Only a lifetime of bullocking could have made the place a farm”
– Henry Lawson
Tree of Life Collection Inner Desire Collection Flame Trees Collection
In 1874 gold was discovered at nearby Sapling Gully, Snakes Creek and Newton's paddock, about 5 km north of the Lawson selection. Peter wanted to join the rush but Louisa Lawson had him turn one room into a store before she would let him go anywhere. On the 24th October, 19 residents converged at the Lawsons' store to sign a petition for a post office and by January 1st 1875, Peter Lawson was appointed postmaster of New Pipeclay at 11 pounds per annum.
Peter later resigned as postmaster, giving “wife's ill health” as the reason. Their home was let to the new postmaster and they moved into a shanty a miner had built on their selection.
(Lawson Chronology, n.d.)
(Opening of Henry Lawson Memorial at Eurunderee near Mudgee, 1949)
WHITE CHAPEL COLLECTION
(Lawson Memorial Opening Ceremony Invitation, 1949)
SCHOOLING
Henry Lawson’s admission to Eurunderee school is recorded in this 1875 extract from the school admission register. Upon visiting the region again in 1914, at the age of 37, Henry was visiting with the then school headmaster James Elliot and eagerly perused the records from his formative time at the school. His nostalgia inspiring an impromptu poem which he added to the visitor book and can be found in the NSW State Archives.
NSW STATE ARCHIVES
On visiting my old school
After many years, I should like to be able
To express how pleased I feel at the cheerful and
happy appearance of the children, under the new
system, and the marvellous change in all things
connected with the school; as contrasted with
the dull, dreary, senseless grind of the system under which
we were supposed to have been
taught and which was irksome to teachers and pupils alike.
_____ And I cannot express my
delight at the well kept appearance of the
Old School which my Father built, and at
which I worked and studied as a boy and
in the trees that have grown up round it
since then. ____ A look through the Class Room
convinced me that I have much to learn _ and
unlearn yet; and I would like to be enrolled
here a pupil again, as say Henry Lawson Aged 4
Infant Class
April 20th 1914
A Dirge
I took the Book of Punishment
And ran it columns down;
I started with an open brow
And ended with a frown;
I dropped on long forgotten names
They took me unaware
I noted old familiar names
But my name wasn’t there!
I thought of what I ought have been
And, Oh! My heart was pained
To find, of all the scholars there,
That I was never caned!
I thought of wasted childhood hours,
And a tear rolled down my cheek
I must have been a Model Boy
Which means a Little Sneak!
“Oh! Give me back my youth again!”
Doc. Faustus used to say:
I only wish the Powers would give
My boyhood for a day
A Model Boy! Beloved of Girls!
Despised by boys and men!
But it comforts me to think that I’ve
Made up for it since then
Henry Lawson
Eurunderee 20/4/1914
NSW STATE ARCHIVES
Drawing of Henry Lawson by Will Dyson 1908
(Dyson, 1908)
References
- Dyson, W. (1908). Drawing of Henry Lawson by 908. Retrieved from State Library Victoria: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/167547952
- Henry Lawson and Lawson Hill Estate. (n.d.). Retrieved from Lawson Hill Estate: http://www.lawsonhillestate.com.au/henry-lawson.html
- Henry Lawson visits his old school, 1914. (n.d.). Retrieved from NSW State Archives: https://gallery.records.nsw.gov.au/index.php/galleries/50-years-at-state-records-nsw/4-10/
- Henry Lawson: poet of the people. (1870 - 1875). Retrieved from State Library New South Wales: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/henry-lawson-poet-people/early-years
- Johnson, W. (1915). Henry Lawson 1915. Retrieved from Wiki Commons: https://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110326516
- Lawson Chronology. (n.d.). Retrieved from Web Archive ORG - WIlsons Almanac: https://web.archive.org/web/20060112124820/http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/lawsons/lawson_chronology.html
- Lawson Memorial Opening Ceremony Invitation. (1949). Retrieved from National Library Australia: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-365967055/view?partId=nla.obj-365967415#page/n0/mode/1up
- Niels Hertzberg “Peter” Larsen. (n.d.). Retrieved from Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175955593/niels-hertzberg-larsen
- Opening of Henry Lawson Memorial at Eurunderee near Mudgee. (1949). Retrieved from State Library New South Wales: https://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=FL1742979&embedded=true&toolbar=false
- Photographs of Henry Lawson's funeral, Waverley Cemetery, 1922 and various residences]. (n.d.). Retrieved from State Library New South Wales: https://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?embedded=true&toolbar=false&dps_pid=FL904927
THE GURU COLLECTION HOODIE
LUMINOUS COLLECTION
ONE TOWN AT A TIME - EPISODE 4 - LAWSON ; SON OF A SUFFRAGETTE
GOLDEN EYE COLLECTION YOGA LEGGINGS
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