Henry Lawson lived in Naremburn on the Northern Shore. It is reported that Lawson, known to have liked a tipple or two would often depart the tram and instead of going home would weave his way down into the
bush where he would soend the night in a large cave overhang. Of particular interest is Lawson’s poem ‘Chatswood’ (Lone Pine 1919) purported by some as recounting the way Chatswood got its name. Other’s contest this assertion as a figment of Lawson’s fermented imagination. Kenneth Slessor who grew up on the corner of Fullers Road and the Pacific Highway, Chatswood whose ‘Second-Class Ballad of the North Shore First’ resonates with the clatter of iron tyres of the NSWGR. Francis Webb lived in Johnson Street, Chatswood. Francis had attended school in North Sydney and Chatswood. His personal library and collection of 18th and 19th century oil paintings were bequeathed to
Chatswood Library. He penned a poecm about the Middle Harbour of the Northern Shore. Of the various poets that used to attend Les and Valerie’s dinner parties in Chatswood, Les selected to include Mark O’Conner, Peter Goldsworthy, Christopher Koch, Peter Porter, Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Alan
Gould, Robert Gray, Jamie Grant, Bruce Beaver and Jennifer Rankin.
Issue 32 - JULY 2019
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