AustLit
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Contents
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An Old Mate of Your Father's,
single work
short story
The narrator remembers how his father would be visited by old mates and how they sit together talking about their days on the Ballarat and Bendigo goldfields.
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The Loaded Dog,
single work
short story
humour
Dave and Andy create a bomb to blast fish out of the waterhole. However their dog picks the bomb up and begins a deadly, yet hilarious, game of 'fetch'.
- The Roaring Days, single work extract poetry (p. 17-18)
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The Drover's Wife,
single work
short story
First appearing in The Bulletin in 1892, Henry Lawson's short story 'The Drovers Wife' is today regarded as a seminal work in the Australian literary tradition. Noted for it's depiction of the bush as harsh, potentially threatening and both isolated and isolating, the story opens with a simple enough premise: an aggressive--and presumably deadly--snake disrupts the working life of a bushwoman and her young children. Brave but cautious, the woman resolves to protect her children since her husband is, characteristically, away from home and of no help.
As time passes within the story, tension builds, and the snake's symbolic threat takes on layers of meaning as the sleepless heroine recalls previous challenges she faced while her husband was away. A series of flashbacks and recollections propel the story through the single night over which it takes place, and by the time the climax arrives--the confrontation with the snake--readers have learned much about the heroine's strengths and fears, most of the latter involving the loss of children and dark figures who encroach upon her small, vulnerable homestead. To be sure, this "darkness" is highly symbolic, and Lawson's use of imagery invokes Western notions of good and evil as well as gendered and racial stereotypes.
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Arvie Aspinall's Alarm Clock,
single work
short story
A policeman finds a small boy sleeping on the steps outside his workplace. The boy explains he is sleeping there because he is afraid he will sleep in and be late for work.
- The Ghostly Door, single work short story humour (p. 37-44)
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His Father's Mate,
single work
short story
Tom Mason has lived a life full of misfortune and has lost all the people he loved. All he has left is his eleven-year-old son, to whom he is devoted.
- The Fire at Ross's Farmi"The squatter saw his pastures wide", single work poetry (p. 59-62)
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Mr Smellingscheck,
single work
short story
The narrator describes a fellow lodger, Mr Smellingscheck, who has fallen on hard times but still manages to retain his dignity.
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Settling on the Land,
single work
short story
humour
Lawson gives a graphic, if humorous, account of the hardships faced by settlers and the rivalry between them and squatters.
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When the Sun Went Down,
single work
short story
Tom rebuffs his brother Jack's attempt at reconciliation after a quarrel. But when his brother is trapped in a collapsing mineshaft Tom works desperately to save him.
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His Country - After All,
single work
short story
Expatriate for fifteen years, a man denigrates Australia throughout a coach-trip in New Zealand, until he encounters the smell and sight of imported blue gum trees.
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The Ballad of the Droveri"Across the stony ridges, across the rolling plain,",
single work
poetry
(p. 87-89)
Note: Final verse omitted from this source.
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Going Blind,
single work
short story
Tells the story of a bushman who is losing his sight and his attempts to remain optimistic.
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Bill, the Ventriloquial Rooster,
single work
short story
humour
Mitchell relates the sorry tale of Bill, a rooster mystified by the echo of his crowing.
- The Lights of Cobb and Co.i"Fire lighted, on the table a meal for sleepy men,", single work poetry (p. 103-106)
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The Geological Spieler,
single work
short story
humour
Steelman poses as a geologist, with Smith as his offsider. They are offered accommodation in a railway camp and stay for several days, but decide to move on when they discover they are not the only tricksters in the camp.
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A Daughter of Maoriland : A Sketch of Poor-Class Maoris,
single work
short story
The story of Sarah Moses, a brooding sixteen-year-old Maori girl called 'August' by her new school teacher, and a man with literary ambitions who thinks he may be able to construct a romance from her story. One day August turns up on his doorstep, claiming her family have thrown her out. The teacher and his wife take her in and all goes well at first, but gradually they realise August's real intentions.
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Telling Mrs Baker,
single work
short story
Two drovers, Andy and Jack, watch their boss drink himself to death. They lie to his wife about the cause of his death to spare her unnecessary pain.