John Shaw Neilson | |
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 | |
| Born | John Shaw Neilson (1872-02-22)22 February 1872 Penola,South Australia, Australia |
| Died | 12 May 1942(1942-05-12) (aged 70) Melbourne,Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Period | 1896–1938 |
| Genre | Lyric poetry |
| Notable works | "The Orange Tree" |
John Shaw Neilson (1872–1942) was anAustralian poet.[1]
Slightly built, for most of his life he worked as a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and, after 1928, working as a messenger with theCountry Roads Board inMelbourne. Largely untrained and only basically educated, Neilson became known as one of Australia's finestlyric poets, who wrote a great deal about the natural world, and the beauty in it.[2]
Neilson was born inPenola,South Australia of purelyScottish ancestry. His grandparents were John Neilson and Jessie MacFarlane ofCupar, Neil Mackinnon ofSkye, and Margaret Stuart ofGreenock. His mother, Margaret MacKinnon, was born atDartmoor, Victoria, his father, John Neilson, atStranraer,Scotland, in 1844.[1]
John Neilson senior was brought to South Australia at nine years of age, had practically no education, and was a shepherd, shearer and small farmer all his life. He never had enough money to get good land, and like other pioneers he fought drought andrabbits and other pests, receiving little reward for his labours. He died in 1922, having lived just long enough to see his son accepted as an Australian poet.[1] He himself had written verses; one song,Waiting for the Rain, was popular in the shearing sheds, and in January 1893 he wrote the senior prize poem,The Pioneers, for the literary competition held by theAustralian Natives' Association. In 1938 a small collection of his poems,The Men of the Fifties, was published by theHawthorn Press atMelbourne.[3]
John Shaw Neilson had little more education than his father. When about eight years old he was for 15 months at the state school atPenola, but he had to leave in 1881 when the family removed toMinimay in the south-westWimmera in Victoria. There was no school at Minimay then, but four years later one was opened and Neilson attended for another 15 months. There was, however, a Bible and a tattered copy ofRobert Burns' poems in the house, and when at the age of 15 a copy ofThomas Hood's poems came in his way, Neilson read them all with great joy. Driven out by drought, Neilson's father took his family toNhill in 1889, and was employed as a farm worker and on the roads. His son soon after began to write verses of which some appeared in the local press and one inThe Australasian in Melbourne.[2]
In January 1893 John Shaw Neilson won the junior prize for a poem at the Australian Natives' Association's competition, in the same year that his father won the senior prize.[1] In 1895 he went with his father toSea Lake, and about a year later had some verses accepted byThe Bulletin inSydney. But his health broke down and he did little writing for about four years.[2]
He was contributing to the Bulletin between 1901 and 1906, and about 1908 some of his verses, mostly of a light or popular kind, were accepted byRandolph Bedford for theClarion.[2] From about 1906 Neilson's sight began to fail, for the rest of his life he was able to do little reading, and most of his work was dictated.[1]
WhenThe Bookfellow was revived in 1911 Neilson was a contributor, andAlfred George Stephens the editor, began collecting the best of his poems, intending to issue them in a volume under the title ofGreen Days and Cherries;Fred John's Annual for 1913 included Neilson as the author of this volume. It was, however, delayed;World War I delayed it further; and it was not issued until 1919, when the titleHeart of Spring was adopted. It had a laudatory preface by Stephens which stated that some of the work was "unsurpassed in the range of English lyrics". It was well received, and in 1923, with the help ofMrs Louise Dyer, another volume,Ballad and Lyrical Poems, was published. This included nearly all the work in the first volume with some 20 additional lyrics.[1]
About this time Neilson visited Melbourne and met many of the literary people of the period. Now in his 50s and not a robust man he was beginning to feel the strain of physical work.
"I don't mind some kinds of pick and shovel work," he said toPercival Serle, "but when I have to throw heavy stuff over my shoulder it gives me rather a wrench."[4] He may have been referring to the time he spent in theHeyfield area, where he wrote several poems and helped in the construction of theLake Glenmaggie weir wall.
In 1925 and again in 1926, Alfred Stephens suggested in newspaper articles that more suitable employment should be found for him. The difficulty was that Neilson's poor eyesight unfitted him for most kinds of work. However, a movement began in Melbourne to help him and he was granted a small literary pension; and eventually in 1928 a position was found for him as an attendant in the office of the Victorian Country Roads Board. This office was directly opposite theExhibition Gardens, Melbourne, and in these pleasant surroundings Neilson spent his days until near the end of his life.[1]
A volume,New Poems, was published in 1927, and in 1934 hisCollected Poems appeared. Four years later another small volume was published,Beauty Imposes.[2] A number of Neilson's poems were set to music by composers such asMargaret Sutherland,Alfred Hill, Cathie O'Sullivan, Llew and Mara Kiek, Richard Keam and Darryl Emmerson. The latter's play,The Pathfinder, based on the life and writings of Neilson, enjoyed much success in the 1980s, toured twice, was produced for radio by theAustralian Broadcasting Commission, and published by Currency Press, Sydney, in 1987.[5] In 2012 an updated and expanded compilation of Neilson's Collected Poems, edited by Margaret Roberts, was published by University of Western Australia Press.
Neilson retired from the Country Roads Board early in 1941, and went toQueensland to stay with friends. His literary pension was now increased to £2 a week. Soon after his return to Melbourne his health began to fail, and he died of heart disease at a private hospital on 12 May 1942. He was buried in theFootscray Cemetery near Melbourne.[6]
In 1946 a bronze sculpture of the poet was commissioned for the opening of the Footscray Children's Library in Buckley Street. The sculpture, by Wallace Anderson, is still on display at the Footscray Library in Paisley Street. TheMaribyrnong Library Service, who now run the Footscray Library, holds an archive, theJohn Shaw Neilson Collection. There is also a local John Shaw Neilson Society.[7]
In 1964 the Nhill and District Historical Society erected a monument to Neilson.[8] In 1972 the cottage birthplace of Neilson was relocated from Penola to a park in Nhill, as theJohn Shaw Neilson National Memorial Cottage.[9]
Since 1970 theFellowship of Australian Writers has presented an annual award, theFAW John Shaw Neilson Poetry Award, for unpublished poems of at least 14 lines.[10]
Since 2005 the Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival have hosted theJohn Shaw Neilson Art Prize, for visual works inspired by the poet.[11]
Despite Melbourne's strong literary tradition, there are no Melbourne suburbs named after writers. There was a campaign in 2009 to name a new suburb after Neilson.[12]
