author
Henry Kendall
1839–1882
Remembered as one of the first Australian poets to give the local landscape its own music, he wrote vivid, lyrical verse shaped by bush, coast, and creek country. His life was often difficult, but his poems helped set a lasting direction for Australian literature.
1 Audiobook
The Poems of Henry Kendall With Biographical Note by Bertram Stevens
by Henry Kendall
About the author
Born in New South Wales in 1839, Henry Kendall became an important early Australian poet, especially admired for writing about the natural world in a voice closely tied to Australian places. He had only limited formal schooling, spent time at sea as a young man, and began publishing poems in Sydney while still quite young.
His first collection, Poems and Songs, appeared in 1862, and later books including Leaves from Australian Forests and Songs from the Mountains strengthened his reputation. Readers and critics have often noted the musical quality of his verse and the way he treated bush scenery not as background but as the heart of the poem.
Kendall's life was marked by hardship and uneven employment, yet his work endured. He died in Sydney in 1882, and he is still remembered as a key figure in the growth of Australian poetry.