The Drover's Wife

To begin with, Henry Lawson was a prominent writer on the Australian bush, but he tended not to romanticize it the way some of his peers did. His initial description is rather bleak: “Bush all round—bush with no horizon, for the country is flat. No ranges in the distance. The bush consists of stunted, rotten native apple-trees. No undergrowth. Nothing to relieve the eye save the darker green of a few she-oaks which are sighing above the narrow, almost waterless creek. Nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilization—a shanty on the main road.”

From the description, the author illustrates the isolation and conditions in which the drover's wife lives and helps us to understand her situation. This is particularly important when he reveals the conflict she will face.