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ush as a major component, and the national emotions embedded in it. The importance of the bush to Australia cannot be overstated, as it is the home of many Australians. The Australian bush is both real and unreal. Real in that it grows, dies, rots, burns and grows back into the bush in a variety of unmistakable ways; real also in that it is a harbour of life. Unreal, in that the life it blesses is the soul of the Australian spirit. In many ways, it is the source of this nation’s own understanding. 

For Lawson, the bush is not only the place where he grew up, but also his spiritual home and soul residence, and the main source of inspiration for his literary work. Focusing on the bush reality and trying to show the world the real bush environment and bush life is his main way of expressing his feelings of home and country.

However, the Australian bush is not the paradise that Europeans see it as, rather it is extremely inhospitable and gruesome. In January 1788, when Arthur Philip (1738-1814), Australia’s first Governor-General, arrived at Botany Bay in New South Wales at the head of the First Fleet with aspirations for the “New World”, they were greeted by a vast inland wilderness of uncultivated bushland, unbearably hot weather and frequent droughts. This dauntingly harsh natural environment was a source of considerable disappointment and sadness for visitors, whether they were senior British officials or convicted exiles. 

2.2 Contradictory Bush Attitudes

Describing Australian bush life and shaping various bushmen are important contents of Lawson’s poems. But Lawson’s attitude towards the bush is contradictory. On the one hand, Lawson’s poetry is a blunt reflection of the desolation of the bush, with its barren land, harsh climate and the hardships and monotony of bush life. On the other hand, he praises bushmen and bush life, often celebrating the optimism and strength of bushmen and the freedom and simplicity of bush life. In short, Lawson loves and hates Australian bush.  

This ambivalent bush feeling is reflected in his poetry. Lawson went on a nine-month bush trip to the northern bush town of Bourke in New South Wales in 1892. Bourke’s surroundings left a very bad impression on Lawson. The town may have had some charming features, but Lawson arrived in the midst of a severe drought and the landscape was therefore miserable. He was greeted by dusty skies, withered woods and dazzling iron skins. Even so, Lawson was not at all unfamiliar with this environment, for it was the Australian bush with which he was familiar. At Bourke, Lawson met many honest and gregarious shearers. Even when the shouting came, they often drank together, had fun and lived a life of freedom and indulgence. As he writes in his poem “Bourke”, he admired the optimism and strength of these workers. 

Chapter Three National Images in Bush Writing .......................... 29

3.1 Industrious and Hard Bushmen .......................... 30

3.2 Lonely but Tough Bushmen ............................ 33

3.3 Marginalized Urban Poor ........................ 36

Chapter Four National Spirit in Bush Fighting and “Mateship” .............. 39

4.1 The Spirit of Bush Fighting ...................... 40

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