The legend of Henry Lawson which arose after his death was that of a man who had been there at the birth of the nation in the great days of the Bulletin, and who had partly created it himself. It was Lawson the depicter of rabble-rousing republicanism, of back-blocks camaraderie, and of mateship nationalism. The legend became part of the larger triumph of the nineties. This was the Lawson taught in schools, the legend of Lawson as success. But we get a very different picture if we look at Lawson’s own life and writing unimpeded by later impressions. In addition…