Review of In Search of Henry Lawson by Manning Clark

Abstract

Manning Clark, retired teacher, active historian and occasional writer of short stories affords himself the pleasure of a generous 'hymn of praise to a man who was great of heart', who had indeed provided the second last quotation for the most recent volume of the History of Australia. (The last was from the much-echoed Ecclesiastes.) Besides Prout's biography. Manning Clark has had the benefit of Colin Roderick's dedicated editions of the verse and prose, several recent studies, a personal visit to Norway in search of sites familiar to Lawson's forebears and conversations with Walter Stone and Lawson's daughter. The book is appositely illustrated with sketches and photographs and reproductions of paintings, and the whole is a work of devotion not only to one who was 'mighty in spirit' but to the country that produced him.