Henry Lawson the renowned Australian writer, master of short stories, concentrates his stories around epitomising the typical struggling Australian. The overriding theme in all Lawson’s stories is the theme of isolation amongst all bush dwellers. He provides many illustrations of mateship: the condition of being a companion; family: people living as householders and bush women also get a strong distinct mention in many of his writings.
Lawson wrote about the loneliness and isolation of bush dwellers as he had a great sense of sympathy for them as he was able to identify himself with loneliness and isolation. He knew the feeling of being alone during his unhappy childhood. “He felt things deeply and wrote with his heart’s blood”. He brings in the aspect of isolation in the story “The Drovers Wife”, in the instance when the drover’s wife rode nineteen miles carrying a dying child to civilization to get assistance to try and save him. The nineteen miles to civilization point up how remote bush citizens were and how dependant and resourcefulness they had to be. In the story, “On the Edge of a Plain”, isolation is evident as Mitchell is on his own away from home for eight years wandering along the tracks alone until he finds a mate in the same situation and travels with him. Many people were separated by the vast distances, others by the country: the bush created unusual circumstances and relationships.
Lawson used naturalistic phenomenon to express his inward - looking vision, such as true mateship amongst men of the bush. Lawson wrote about mateship often, to express its importance in human relationship as he feels so strongly for close supportive friendships because in his childhood circumstances. This value was not well developed during his youth therefore was an aspect that contributed to his decline. The three accounts that clearly demonstrate the theme of mateship amongst