Artist, poet and short story writer Hal Gye is best known for his illustrations of C. J. Dennis's Sentimental Bloke (1915) and of other works by Dennis, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. Originally a law clerk in Melbourne, Gye became an illustrator for Angus & Robertson, the Bulletin, Steele Rudd's Magazine, and other newspapers and magazines. Under the name of 'James Hackston' he wrote a series of (often humorous) short stories for the Bulletin from 1936 on; they were later collected in the volumes Father Clears Out (1966) and The Hole in the Bedroom (1969). Gye's poetry, written as 'Hacko', appeared on the 'Aboriginalities' page of the Bulletin during the 1940s and 1950s. For further information on Gye and his work see Elizabeth Lane, Hal Gye: The Man and His Work (1986); for information about the co-operation between Gye and Dennis see C. J. Dennis - Hal Gye in Association by Harry F. Chaplin (1980).
