Nicholas Hasluck delivered this speech at the launching in Perth of Geoffrey Lehmann’s new book of verse, Poems 1957–2013 The dates mentioned in Geoffrey Lehmann’s new book remind us that in the early post-war period Australian literature was enriched by the work of widely respected poets such as Judith Wright, A.D. Hope, James McAuley, David Campbell, Rosemary Dobson and Gwen Harwood. Then, towards the end of the 1950s, a younger and equally talented generation began to make its presence felt. For many readers the publication in 1965 of The Ilex Tree, co-authored by Les Murray and Geoffrey Lehmann, was a…