Australian Lad Identity
Good morning/afternoon Mr. Webster and Year 8 Mahoney.
The poem Andy’s Gone with the Cattle was written by a nineteenth-century Australian poet Henry Lawson in 1888, who has become renowned for his depiction of Australian bush life. He had a strong belief that Australian identity should always emanate from its own soil, not from its mother country, Britain. Him being Australian had suffered hardship and unemployment and knew of the characters and lifestyles he talked about within his poetry. In the poem, Andy’s Gone with the Cattle, Lawson, like Banjo Patterson, used various poetic techniques to demonstrate how the “drover” contributed to part of the national identity of the Australian lad. Lawson’s work is just one of many contributions that have led to the growth and development of the ‘Aussie Lad’ identity throughout Australian history. …show more content…
In the late 1880s when Lawson wrote the poem Andy’s Gone with the Cattle, those people not in urban developments lived off the land droving and farming cattle and experienced extreme hardship while trying to keep their cattle alive during droughts and floods.WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War added further colour to the identity of the “Australian lad” where young men – mere lads – volunteered to fight for their country. Many died or returned maimed, disillusioned but proud and stoic. In 1970s advertisements, young lads were long-haired louts in flared jeans and colourful shirts, stoned with an arm around two “sheilas”. Currently, on TV, Australian lads are represented to overseas audiences in “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” as board-short wearing, blond haired, tanned toned surfers who live in caravan parks. There is no one ideal
Good morning/afternoon Mr. Webster and Year 8 Mahoney.
The poem Andy’s Gone with the Cattle was written by a nineteenth-century Australian poet Henry Lawson in 1888, who has become renowned for his depiction of Australian bush life. He had a strong belief that Australian identity should always emanate from its own soil, not from its mother country, Britain. Him being Australian had suffered hardship and unemployment and knew of the characters and lifestyles he talked about within his poetry. In the poem, Andy’s Gone with the Cattle, Lawson, like Banjo Patterson, used various poetic techniques to demonstrate how the “drover” contributed to part of the national identity of the Australian lad. Lawson’s work is just one of many contributions that have led to the growth and development of the ‘Aussie Lad’ identity throughout Australian history. …show more content…
In the late 1880s when Lawson wrote the poem Andy’s Gone with the Cattle, those people not in urban developments lived off the land droving and farming cattle and experienced extreme hardship while trying to keep their cattle alive during droughts and floods.WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War added further colour to the identity of the “Australian lad” where young men – mere lads – volunteered to fight for their country. Many died or returned maimed, disillusioned but proud and stoic. In 1970s advertisements, young lads were long-haired louts in flared jeans and colourful shirts, stoned with an arm around two “sheilas”. Currently, on TV, Australian lads are represented to overseas audiences in “Neighbours” and “Home and Away” as board-short wearing, blond haired, tanned toned surfers who live in caravan parks. There is no one ideal