Joe Wilson and His Mates

Joe Wilson and His Mates (1901) is a collection of many of Lawson's most celebrated classic Australian short stories. Lawson's darkly realistic work includes all four stories of Joe Wilson, a sheep shearer suffering from drinking problems and the hardship of the bush. Along the bleaker tales are more 'humorous' takes on bush life, including 'The Loaded Dog', 'The Golden Graveyard' and 'Jimmy Grimshaw's Wooing'. Henry Lawson (1867-1922) was born and raised on the gold fields of Glenfell and Gulgong in New South Wales. He became known as a bush poet and short story writer following his work as journalist for the Queensland radical newspaper the Boomerang where his republican and socialist views found expression. He established his reputation as the people's poet and story teller. However, he lived an itinerant life with and without his family, living in Western Australia, New Zealand and England. On his return to Sydney in 1902 his alcoholism and mental illness increased, leading to his separation from his wife and children.