Kendall, Henry Clarence (1839-1882), is one of the best known of Australia’s colonial poets. Kendall gained fame for his nature poems that celebrate the then mostly unspoiled beauty of Australia’s natural environment. Unlike earlier poets who had been born in England, Kendall saw the Australian landscape as familiar rather than strange. He was especially inspired by the forests, mountains, and streams of the southeastern coast of New South Wales, where he grew up. Kendall’s poems have been praised for their clarity and melodious language.
Kendall began publishing his poems in 1859 in Melbourne and Sydney newspapers and magazines. His verse attracted the support of such Australian literary leaders as critic Daniel Henry Deniehy, poets Charles Harpur and George Gordon McCrae, and editor Henry Parkes. Kendall’s early poems were collected in his first book, Poems and Songs (1862). He published two more volumes of verse, Leaves from Australian Forests (1869) and Songs from the Mountains (1880). All three books reflect Kendall’s love of nature and the Australian bush (remote countryside) and landscape, as seen in such poems as “Bell-Birds,” “September in Australia,” and “Narrara Creek.”
Kendall was born on April 18, 1839, on a farm near Ulladulla on the south coast of New South Wales. His birth name was Thomas Henry Kendall, but he added “Clarence” to his name and was often known as Henry Clarence Kendall. He had little formal education and lived a difficult life, suffering from poverty and poor health. Kendall’s addiction to alcohol led to a nervous collapse in 1873, and he spent four months in a Sydney asylum. After his health improved, in 1875 he moved to Camden Haven in northern New South Wales, where he worked as a bookkeeper. He died of tuberculosis on Aug. 1, 1882. The Henry Kendall Poetry Award, given every two years, is a major Australian literary award.
