Louisa Lawson's poetry and her feminist journal the Dawn (1888– 1905) are closely connected in obvious and more subtle ways. Lawson published her collection of poetry, The Lonely Crossing, at the Dawn office in 1905. However, much of Lawson's poetry had first appeared in the Dawn and other periodicals, including the Worker (1892–1913), the Town and Country Journal (1870–1919) and the Bulletin (1880–2008). As both the first working-class poet and the first poet to take on the roles of both author and editor of this study, the relationship between print politics and poetry is particularly important to understanding Lawson's approach to literary production. The shift that saw women increasingly occupying the dual role of author-editor in late nineteenth-century British periodicals is reflected in Lawson's practice in Australia. While Lawson's poetry and publishing were engaged with nationalism, it is her international context that I want to consider here. This builds on the work of Heather Radi who notes that the Dawn ‘ had an extensive country readership and intercolonial and overseas subscribers. It was in regular communication with English and American feminists.’ The international aspects of Lawson's poetry have received little attention in scholarship to date, yet the high level of engagement with transnational poetic and philosophical influences is important for understanding its political significance. The transnational flows of print culture are reflected in Lawson's poetry too, which appeared in Australian periodicals and the Dawn and had readers not only in Australia but also in New Zealand, Fiji, England and Scotland, as well as Europe and America. Lawson initially published much of her own poetry in the Dawn.

At the same time, Lawson was also publishing a wide range of other periodical poets, that is, poets who were well known primarily through their publications in journals, newspapers and other periodicals, not only from Australia.