Oh, Henry just where are you,
Are you looking down on me?
And as you sit there wondering,
I wish you could tell me what you see.

It’s not the place that you once knew,
As you put your swag upon your back,
Filled your billy up with water,
And walked that dusty track.

You’d walk into the distance,
As if you would never tire,
And as darkness was about to fall,
You’d boil your billy on a fire.

Sometimes you’d see someone’s selection,
And ask if you could stay,
For was there any jobs that you could do,
To help you earn some pay.

Perhaps you’d chop some wood for them,
Or help to thresh some grain,
And when you finished doing that,
You’d be on your way again.

And on all your travels,
In your mind you would record,
Because one day it would all be written,
Those things that you had stored.

There were those times you would cease travelling,
From one track to the next,
And choose to sit and stop a while,
To let yourself just rest.

For you might have been a swagman,
But you were not a fool,
For your pencil and your paper,
Became your greatest tools.

You wrote of many travels,
And places you had been,
How tough it was in country,
And other things you’d seen.

You spoke of the mighty Murray River,
And the Darling at its best,
For they were the very lifeline,
Of selectors from out West.

Some years of droughts and hardships,
When the rains did fail to come,
And at times like that you simply,
Rolled up your swag again.

More travels lay ahead for you,
But they would bring more insight,
And when the time would come around,
You’d sit again and write.

For you wrote of many topics,
But two things I always see,
One, you were a Bushman,
And two, so proud Australian be.

So, Henry I do sit back,
And read the words you left behind,
For those things that you have written,
Are always on my mind.

So as you sit back just now Henry,
Wherever there are your kind,
Smile down upon Australia,
And the land you left behind.


©Copyright
Dark Blue Knight
29th October 2005
All Rights Reserved




"Dedicated To The Memory Of Henry Lawson 1885 ~ 1922"



“Swag” – Bedroll and all a Bushman’s belongings,
rolled up together.

“Swagman” – One who carries a “Swag”,
normally on his back.

“Billy” – Tin can for with wire handle
for holding/carrying/boiling water.
“Selectors” – New arrivals,
usually from the East Coast, moving westward,
seeking new land to open up for farming etc.
They would claim a selection of land as their own,
which was known as their “selection”.

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