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“You'll never catch me alive,” said [the swagman], / And his ghost may be heard …

– from A.B. Paterson, Waltzing Matilda 1895

The Australian swag was born of Australia … The grave of many of the world’s tragedies and comedies …
– from Henry Lawson, The Romance of the Swag 1907

In 1939 Lionel Lindsay called Lawson’s The Romance of the Swag “a precious piece of Australian folk-lore,” especially “now that the last Sundowner has disappeared into the dust of the Sunset Track.” This exhibition visits the various moods and modes of Lindsay’s own representation of that legendary Australian figure, the swagman, also known as a sundowner.

Lionel LINDSAY 1874-1961 / The last sundowner 1909 / pencil, pen, wash and gouache / 41.2 x 26.6cm / reproduced in The Lone Hand magazine 1 October 1909 / Lionel Lindsay Gallery and Library Collection 411 / © National Library of Australia