AustLit

A trilogy of stories reflecting a socialist view of Australian life in the 1950s, with a particular focus on mateship. Joe Wilson's Mates, based on Henry Lawson's 'The Union Buries its Dead', shows union members in a country town holding a funeral for an unknown tramp who carries a union card. In Frank Hardy's A Load of Wood, men in a make-work job during the Depression assert themselves by stealing firewood from a farmer and distributing it to the poor. The third story, The City by Ralph Peterson, follows young lovers trying to make a life in the hustle and bustle of Sydney.