author
Adam Lindsay Gordon
1833–1870
Remembered for riding, risk-taking, and verse, this early Australian poet brought the energy of colonial life into his writing. His poems about horses, hardship, and the bush helped shape a distinctly Australian voice in literature.
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Poems by Adam Lindsay Gordon
by Adam Lindsay Gordon
About the author
Born on 19 October 1833 at Fayal in the Azores, Adam Lindsay Gordon was educated in England before being sent to South Australia, where he worked in the mounted police and became known as a gifted horseman. He later lived as a rider, breeder, and writer, and also spent a short period in politics as a member of the South Australian Parliament.
Gordon's reputation rests on poems that mixed romance, melancholy, and a vivid feel for riding and outdoor life. He was one of the first poets to win wide recognition for writing in an Australian setting, and later readers came to see him as an important early voice in Australian poetry.
His life was marked by financial strain and personal difficulty, and he died in Brighton, Victoria, on 24 June 1870. Although his career was brief, poems such as The Sick Stockrider helped secure his lasting place in literary history.