Literary life

In 1895, Henry Lawson was contracted by Angus & Robertson to write two books, In the Days when the World was Wide and While the Billy Boils. Both books got good reviews and sold well but Lawson, always desperate for money, sold his copyright back to the publishers which meant he received only a limited share of the profits.

Around this time, Henry Lawson met Bertha Marie Louise Bredt and, despite warnings of Lawson's drinking habits, the couple married impulsively on 15 April 1896. As young man, Henry Lawson was tall, slender and good looking with remarkable eyes. He was shy, lacking in self-confidence and very sensitive but had considerable power in attracting friends. Bertha was the daughter of radical feminist and boarding house proprietor Matilda (Bertha) Brendt and step daughter of W.H. McNamara, owner of a well-known socialist bookshop in Castlereagh Street, as well as sister-in-law to the politician Jack Lang.

Financial pressure on Lawson only increased with marriage. As Henry continued his carousing ways, he failed to keep publishing commitments. Forced to live on Lawson's meagre earnings from selling stories and poems to the Bulletin, the newlyweds were soon squabbling. Seeking to get Henry away from his bohemian companions, the couple went first to Western Australia and then to New Zealand where the Lawsons' son Joseph (Jim) was born on 16 February 1898. Two years later their daughter, Bertha Louisa, was born in Sydney on 11 February 1900.

> See images of the Henry Lawson and his family


Despite Lawson's growing literary reputation, cemented by a swag of popular publications, the author slipped easily into depression when he wasn’t writing, suppressing his insecurities by drinking heavily, and the family struggled to make ends meet. In 1898, Henry entered a sanatorium for alcoholics and, on his release, settled back down to writing. Many of Lawson's Bourke stories were written at this time and appeared in On the Track which was published by Angus & Robertson in 1900.  

In 'Pursuing Literature in Australia', an article published in the Bulletin in 1899, Lawson stated that over the 12 years he had been working as a writer in Australia he had only earned a total of £700. He also wrote of his frustration with the small size of the Australian market which the author felt had prevented him from achieving his ambition to live by his writing alone. 
 

‘Pursuing Literature in Australia’, from The Red Page, Bulletin, 21/1/1899. A 1888

On 20 April 1900, with son Joseph and two-month-old daughter Bertha Louisa, the Lawsons set sail for England. Hoping to make a new start there, and believing London might offer him more chance of earning a living as a writer, Henry had sought help to raise the fare from two high profile local benefactors, Earl Beauchamp, the Governor of NSW, and David Scott Mitchell.

Unfortunately, fitting into English life was not so easy for the Lawsons. Henry stuck close to his work for a while and had some literary success with English publishers. Blackwood & Sons took two books, The Country I Came From and Joe Wilson and his Mates, and Methuen & Company published a book of prose and verse, Children of the Bush, but eventually he began drinking again.

The family found the cold English winters trying and pined for the sunshine of Australia. Mrs Lawson also became seriously ill and, while their mother was hospitalised, the children were placed in temporary foster care. Barely able to pay the bills, Lawson was forced to write under duress. By 1902, the Lawsons had returned to Australia, where the difficulties between husband and wife proved too great, and the couple agreed to separate. Lawson's literary failure in London was a setback from which the author never fully recovered.