CRITICAL – Henry Lawson or Banjo Paterson? Explain briefly your understanding of why these two authors were so different in their views of the Australian experience. 

The Australian experience is a question that has often been interpreted in various ways, in consequence to its intricacies in what even defines an Australian? Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson’s attempts towards interpreting the Australian experience has added emphasis towards the complexities attempting to represent the Australian experience. Paterson appeals to Australia’s idolized standards of a youthful nation’s heroism and optimism. However, Lawson’s portrayal reflects a dystopian narrative in reflecting a realism. 

Paterson’s ballad “The Man from Snowy River” utilises the Australian outback to symbolize the Australia as a newfound nation embodied through the hopes of a young rider. The “underdog” narrative who rises to the adversities and triumphs. It is the young rider’s conviction and determination of becoming a household name that reflects Australia’s aspirations as a newfound nation. Paterson idealistic narrative reflected Australia’s desire to be acknowledged as its own nation compared well-established nations such as Britain. 

In contrast, Lawson’s realism and naturalistic approach in his literary work, “faces in the streets” had challenged Paterson’s romanticism. Lawson felt that the idealist narrative came at the expense of social context with the poor and jobless suffering being the “owners of the sad faces in the street”. Lawson directly calls out the “apathy of wealthy men…” that is reflected in Paterson’s aristocratic background as his idealistic reflected Australia’s ideal role model, but not its problems.