In September 1892 Henry Lawson arrived in Bourke. JF Archibald, editor of the Bulletin, had paid his train fare and £5 for expenses in the hope that an experience of the ‘real bush’ would settle the duel in verse that Lawson had been conducting with AB (Banjo) Paterson in the pages of the magazine.

Was the bush a heaven or, as Lawson suggested, a hell hole?

Lawson was struggling with his demons – alcoholism and loneliness. Archibald may have thought time away from the city would help him to dry out, make some friends and write more directly about outback life.

Little is known about what Lawson did in Bourke before his return to Sydney in June 1893. To fill this void Wayne Marshall presents not just one Bourke, but a whole series of Bourkes that coexist on different planes linked by glowing tunnels. This enables the author to offer numerous possibilities for Lawson’s experience – meeting or not meeting Jim Gordon, sleeping or not sleeping with the barmaid at the Great Western, jumping to his death, or being pushed, from an upper floor of the hotel.

Which brings us to perhaps the strangest aspect of this work. The literary rivalry between Lawson and Paterson explodes from the pages of the Bulletin into an armed showdown on the streets of Bourke, with rival groups of fanatical supporters and plenty of gratuitous violence.

For me this book is a missed opportunity. Rather than illuminating an important period in Lawson’s life and career it confuses. Henry doesn’t go bush – he gets bushwacked.

Reviewed by Peter Gray

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wayne Marshall is an Australian writer and musician. Stories of his have appeared in Overland, Island, Going Down Swinging, and other places. He is the author of the short story collection Shirl, which was shortlisted for a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. He is the co-founder of the Peter Carey Short Story Award and lives in regional Victoria. Henry Goes Bush is his first novel.

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