Henry Lawson is an archetypal figure in Australian culture. In 1918 David McKee Wright named him ‘the first articulate voice of the real Australian'. Some years later, Vance Palmer wrote that Lawson was ‘a portent’ for the nation. Portent he has been for formulators of the Australian tradition. Critics still argue, to the delight of press and public, about the significance of this man. In his best apocalyptic style, Manning Clark has warned that Australia is ‘Lawson writ large … a forewarning to all of us of “wretched days to be”’. Colin Roderick, faithful to the legend that is Lawson, has countered that Lawson remains our ‘poet-prophet … for universal brotherhood’, who held ‘an ideal … up to mankind’.

The complex character of Henry Lawson and the rich complexity of his stories appear to open unlimited options for interpreting the man and his work. He has become a cultural myth, a legend. And like all myths, the myth of Henry Lawson helps us to understand something about Australian culture while it also imposes that meaning upon us. It is not Henry Lawson himself, but the stories about ‘Lawson’ that have accumulated and been circulated through culture over time, which make him a legend. Layers of myths and interpretations have been built up around the writer and his works.