Henry Lawson Statue 

The statue of Henry Lawson is the work of Australian artist George Lambert and it is near the Domain, slightly east of the Botanic Gardens and slightly north of the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Mrs Macquarie's Rd, Sydney.

Lambert's sculpture shows Lawson in a thoughtful pose, flanked by two icons of the bush, a swagman and a dog, which symbolised Lawson's works about the Australian bush. 

The sculpture was commissioned five years after Lawson's death by the Henry Lawson Memorial Fund organising committee. The brief issued by the committee specified 'a work of art which shows Lawson as an Australian of the bush, as well as an accurate bronze likeness of him'.  It also specified Lawson's clothing for the statue – the emphasis being in the style of a bush working man 'without coat or vest' and with his 'shirt open to the neck'. Lambert had Lawson's son model for him in creating the statue.

George Lambert completed the plaster cast of the sculpture but passed away before the bronze casting, which was supervised by Maurice Lambert, his son. The sculpture was unveiled on 28 July, 1931 a year after Lambert's death.

George Lambert knew Lawson and was aware that Henry had enjoyed walking through the Domain in the good years, and had maybe even slept out in the area during the bad years.

Moving Henry Lawson Statue

Installed in 1931, the statue of Henry Lawson had not been moved until June, 2007, when it was loaned to the National Gallery in Canberra for the exhibition: 'George.W.Lambert Retrospective : Heroes & Icons', which ran from 29 June until 16 September, 2007. The statue was reinstalled on 19th September, 2007 with a small ceremony in which Australian feminist author, social historian and past President of NSW Parliament the Hon Dr Meredith Burgmann read a selection of Henry Lawson poems which related some of Lawson's observations of the people of Sydney in the early twentieth century.

 Location of Henry Lawson Statue 

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