The first metropolis to be depicted in Australian literature was Hell: before cities existed in Australia, Francis McNamara, the convict poet, described the infernal one populated by those who tormented him and his fellow prisoners. Sentenced in 1832 to seven years' transportation to Australia for stealing a plaid, he survived the brutality of the penal system: his witty, rebellious poems laid the foundations for a new Australian poetry. Les Murray's anthology of poets from the early years of European settlement in Australia reaches back in time from his fivefathers, which collected significant voices from the early twentieth century (Kenneth Slessor, Roland Robinson, David Campbell, James McAuley, Francis Webb). "Hell and After" contains extended selections from the work of four writers. Francis McNamara (1811-1880) is the only poet whose work has survived from the convict era. Mary Gilmore (1865-1962) was born to a pioneering life in the bush; she became a social reformer and renowned figure in the Australian Labor Party, and her poems are much loved by Australians for their vivid evocations of colonial life. John Shaw Neilson (1872-1942), who spent most of his life as a manual labourer, wrote poems of great lyricism and humour under conditions of poverty and ill-health. Lesbia Harford (1891-1927), a radical activist who was one of the first women to graduate with a law degree from the University of Melbourne, worked as a factory machinist and domestic servant. Her poems give voice to a woman's experience of working life and private desire. Reading these poets is to experience a culture in the process of creating itself.
Introduction Francis McNamara: The Convict's Arrival Labouring with the Hoe A Petition from the A.A. Co. Flocks at Peels River in Behalf of the Irish Bard [For the Company Underground] A Petition from the Chain Gang at Newcastle to Captain Furlong the Superintendent A Convict's Tour to Hell A Dialogue Between Two Hibernians in Botany Bay [Epigram of Introduction] The Seizure of the Cyprus Brig in Recherche Bay, Aug. 1829 Mary Gilmore: When Myall Creek Was New I Am the Idle Eva Has Gone Eternal Claim The Linen for Pillow... Judged The Rue Tree These? In Poverty and Toil The Truest Mate The Forest Prayed 'As late as the 1870's...' The Forest Prayed The Coming Outcast All Souls Heritage Awakened The Kiss The Babe Fourteen Men The Tenancy Of Certain Critics The Gift Never Admit the Pain The Harvesters The Saturday Tub Bones in a Poet Old Botany Bay 'The kangaroos were patriarchal...' The Little Shoes that Died Eve-Song The Road Somehow We Missed Each Other Second-hand Beds Famous Nationality In Wesleyan Days, Wagga Wagga The Road to Gunning Verdicts John Shaw Neilson: The Crane is My Neighbour The Gentle Water Bird The Flautist To a Runaway Sound For the Little Boys Out of Heavan The Ballad of Remembrance The Poor, Poor Country The Lad Who Started Out The Child Being There Love in Absence The Hour of the Parting Love's Coming To a Lodging-House Canary The Sweetening of the Year A Limerick The Soldier is Home Stony Town Stephen Foster Tell Summer that I Died The Hen in the Bushes The Moon Was Seven Days Down Schoolgirls Hastening The Orange Tree In the Dim Counties You, and Yellow Air Sheedy Was Dying May Song Be Delicate The Prince Has Been into the Lane The Sundowner The Happy Thief From a Coffin In the Long Gown To a Blonde Typist You Cannot Go Down to the Spring Lament for Laddie Take Down the Fiddle, Karl! The Power of the Bells To the Red Lory Uncle to a Pirate The Bard and the Lizard Dolly's Offering The Eleventh Moon Surely God Was a Lover The Poor Can Feed the Birds The Smoker Parrot Lesbia Harford: 'I dreamt last night' 'If I had six white horses' Little Ships 'I count the days until I see you, dear,' 'I can't feel the sunshine' 'My mission in the world' Day's End 'Ours was a friendship in secret, my dear,' 'Somebody brought in lilac' Deliverance Through Art The Folk I Love 'Oh, oh, Rosalie,' 'All day long' Fatherless Lawstudent and Coach Machinists Talking The Invisible People Closing Time: Public Library Machinist's Song Periodicity 'This evening I'm alone.' 'I was sad' 'All through the day at my machine' 'Sometimes I wish that I were Helen-fair' 'Sometimes I am too tired' 'My lovely pixie, my good companion,' 'Into the old rhyme' 'The love I look for' 'He has a fairy wife.' 'Those must be masts of ships the gazer sees' 'I have golden shoes' 'Now I have been three days' 'I found an orchid in the valley fair,' 'I love to see' Skirt Machinist 'I'm like all lovers, wanting love to be' 'I used to be afraid to meet' Body and Soul A Blouse Machinist An Improver 'Once I thought my love was worth the name' 'Pink eucalyptus flowers' 'I came to live in Sophia Street' 'Today is rebels' day. And yet we work - ' 'To look across at Moira gives me pleasure.' Street Music 'I dreamt last night of happy home-comings.' 'Sometimes I think the happiest of love's moments' 'The people have drunk the wine of peace' Girl's Love 'I must be dreaming through the days' 'When I get up to light the fire,' 'Today, in class,' 'I bought a red hat' Miss Mary Fairfax 'Whenever I think of you, you are alone,' A Strike Rhyme 'In this little school' Inventory A Parlourmaid Street Scene - Little Lonsdale St 'I'd like to spend long hours at home' 'I had a lover who betrayed me' 'Most people have a way of making friends' The Psychological Craze Lovers Parted 'All Knowledge...' 'How funny it would be if dreamy I' 'Pat wasn't Pat last night at all.' 'A bunch of lilac and a storm of hail' 'O you, dear trees, you have learned so much of beauty,' Pruning Flowering Gums Polytheist 'Love is not love...' The Moonlit Room A Meaning Learnt The Wife Raiment 'When I am articled' 'When my lover put the sea between us' 'I read a statement in a newspaper' 'I am no mystic. All the ways of God' A Prayer to Saint Rosa Bibliography Index of titles Index of first lines
