17 Facts About Shaw Neilson

Largely untrained and only basically educated, Neilson became known as one of Australia's finest lyric poets, who wrote a great deal about the natural world, and the beauty in it.

Shaw Neilson was born in Penola, South Australia of purely Scottish ancestry.

Shaw Neilson's grandparents were John Neilson and Jessie MacFarlane of Cupar, Neil Mackinnon of Skye, and Margaret Stuart of Greenock.

Shaw Neilson's mother, Margaret MacKinnon, was born at Dartmoor, Victoria, his father, John Neilson, at Stranraer, Scotland, in 1844.

John Shaw Neilson senior was brought to South Australia at nine years of age, had practically no education, and was a shepherd, shearer and small farmer all his life.

Shaw Neilson never had enough money to get good land, and like other pioneers he fought drought and rabbits and other pests, receiving little reward for his labours.

Shaw Neilson died in 1922, having lived just long enough to see his son accepted as an Australian poet.

Shaw Neilson himself had written verses; one song, Waiting for the Rain, was popular in the shearing sheds, and in January 1893 he wrote the senior prize poem, The Pioneers, for the literary competition held by the Australian Natives' Association.

John Shaw Neilson had little more education than his father.

In January 1893 John Shaw Neilson won the junior prize for a poem at the Australian Natives' Association's competition, in the same year that his father won the senior prize.

Shaw Neilson was contributing to the Bulletin between 1901 and 1906, and about 1908 some of his verses, mostly of a light or popular kind, were accepted by Randolph Bedford for the Clarion.

From about 1906 Shaw Neilson's sight began to fail, for the rest of his life he was able to do little reading, and most of his work was dictated.

About this time Shaw Neilson visited Melbourne and met many of the literary people of the period.

The latter's play, The Pathfinder, based on the life and writings of Shaw Neilson, enjoyed much success in the 1980s, toured twice, was produced for radio by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and published by Currency Press, Sydney, in 1987.

In 2012 an updated and expanded compilation of Shaw Neilson's Collected Poems, edited by Margaret Roberts, was published by University of Western Australia Press.

Shaw Neilson retired from the Country Roads Board early in 1941, and went to Queensland to stay with friends.

Shaw Neilson was buried in the Footscray Cemetery near Melbourne.