How did a poorly educated, hearing-impaired working-class boy from country New South Wales develop a reputation that merited a State funeral in 1922? The answer to this question results in a truly interdisciplinary book that looks at the tension inherent in the irony of high art versus the authority of the people of city sophistication versus the voice of the bush, the heart of Australia. The case studies in this book are diverse and interesting in their own right. There are chapters on the state funeral, a memorial movement, the literary society, the working class city, rural festivals, cultural tourism and local history, as well as the ALP, the CPA, and the Academy. The book maps Lawsons celebrity and the variety of uses to which his name and reputation have been put the multi-faceted Lawson legend has been used by conservative, nationalist, socialist and radical interests to further their own agendas.

Henry Lawson was a famous Australian author and a contemporary of Banjo Paterson.