Henry George Lamond

Henry George Lamond MBE (13 June 1885 – 12 July 1969) was an Australian farmer and writer, notable for his novels about the land, people and animals of outback Queensland. In addition to his fiction and non-fiction books, he wrote over 900 essays and articles for magazines including Walkabout.^[1][2] At one point in his career he was considered to be the Australian 'Thompson Seton'.^[3]

Lamond was born at Carl Creek in Queensland's Gulf Country and educated at Brisbane Grammar School and the Queensland Agricultural College, Gatton. He was the son of later police inspector James Lamond.

From 1902 to 1927 he worked at jobs ranging from jackaroo to horse-breaker to manager on various properties in western Queensland. On 27 June 1910 Lamond married Eileen Meta Olive McMillan at Maneroo Station, about 40 miles (64 km) from Longreach.^[4] The couple had a daughter and two sons (one of whom, Hal, was killed in 1942 while serving with the Royal Australian Air Force).^[5]

From 1927 to 1937 he leased the Molle Islands in the Whitsunday Group near Proserpine, Queensland, farmed on South Molle Island and established a mail service to the mainland. In 1937 he moved to a farm at Lindum, Brisbane. He had been writing short stories and magazine articles since the 1920s, but from the 1930s he was increasingly supporting himself and his family through his writing. His work was popular not only in Australia but also in Britain and the United States.^[5]

By 1949 Lamond was living at Annerley, Brisbane.^[6] He was awarded a Member of the British Empire in 1968. Lamond died in Brisbane, surviving his wife by a year, and was cremated.^[5]

Bibliography

Books written by Lamond include:

• 1931 – Horns and Hooves: handling stock in Australia. Country Life: London.^[7]
• 1934 – An Aviary on the Plains. Angus & Robertson: Sydney.
• 1934 – Tooth and Talon: tales of the Australian wild. Angus & Robertson: Sydney.^[3]
• 1937 – Amathea: the story of a horse. Angus & Robertson: Sydney.^[8]
• 1943 – Kilgour's Mare. W. Morrow & Co: New York.
• 1943 – Grand old man of the pastoral industry. The story of pastoralist William Ross Munro.^[9]
• 1945 – Dingo: the story of an outlaw. W. Morrow & Co: New York.
• 1946 – Brindle Royalist: a story of the Australian plains. W. Morrow & Co: New York.
• 1949 – White Ears the Outlaw: the Story of a Dingo. Angus & Robertson: Sydney. Originally a newspaper serial in April 1934.^[10]
• 1953 – Kangaroo. J. Day Co: New York.
• 1953 – Big Red. Sun Books: Melbourne.
• 1954 – The Manx Star: a story of the Australian plains. Faber & Faber: London.
• 1955 – Towser. The Sheep Dog. Faber & Faber: London.
• 1958 – The Red Ruin Mare. Faber & Faber: London.
• 1959 – Sheep Station. Faber & Faber: London.
• 1966 – Etiquette of Battle. Lansdowne Press: Melbourne.

References

• Children's literature portal

1. Holmes, O.B.E.. M.C.., F.R.G.S., Charles (1 November 195). "How Walkabout Began". Walkabout. 25 (11): 9.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Pocock, Celmara (7 May 2015). "Nostalgia and belonging: Henry George Lamond writing the Whitsunday Islands". Queensland Review. 22: 49–61. doi:10.1017/qre.2015.5. S2CID 147353119. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
3. "Tooth and talon". Ouyen Mail. No. 1384. Victoria, Australia. 10 February 1937. p. 15. Retrieved 16 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "Social items". The Northern Miner. Queensland, Australia. 5 July 1910. p. 3. Retrieved 16 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
5. Bonnin, Nancy (2000). "Lamond, Henry George (1885 - 1969)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 23 October 2007.
6. "Henry Lamond speaks". The Longreach Leader. Vol. 27, no. 1688. Queensland, Australia. 3 June 1949. p. 8. Retrieved 16 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
7. "A poet remembers". Cloncurry Advocate. Queensland, Australia. 22 October 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 16 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
8. "The story of a horse". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 9 October 1937. p. 15 (Second edition). Retrieved 16 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
9. "Mr. William Ross Munro". Queensland Country Life. Vol. 9, no. 5. Queensland, Australia. 12 August 1943. p. 5. Retrieved 16 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
10. "Serial story White ears the outlaw £100 reward". The Australasian. Vol. CXXXVI, no. 4, 448. Victoria, Australia. 7 April 1934. p. 44. Retrieved 16 January 2021 – via National Library of Australia.