Happy birthday to Henry

Very good, who knows where his birth was registered and how old he would have been this year?

If you answered that the birth was registered in Forbes and that Henry would have been 150 years old this year you will get a star stamp on your forehead and go to the top of the class.

Yes, you were also correct if you gave Grenfell as the birthplace.

Henry’s actual date of birth was June 17th 1867.

I have mentioned George Gunn in our column previously.  

George was a very keen historian, formative member of the Forbes Historical Society and a regular contributor to the Forbes Advocate during the 1950s writing of times past.  

From his obituary in 1952 the late Mr Gunn a single man, was 76 years old, that gives him a birthdate of about 1876.  

He had been “residing with his nephew Mr A J Gunn for some time” when he died.

My thoughts are that I would have loved to have sat down and recorded a yarn with George.

George was also extremely passionate about Henry Lawson and when residing in Sydney for some years held various positions with the Henry Lawson Literary Society.

He also, along with the Forbes Historical Society and then President, Dr Kelleher, was keen to have a plaque in Victoria Park stating that Henry’s birth was indeed registered in Forbes.

And hereby hangs a VERY long tale.

The story starts with an article in the Forbes Advocate stating that George’s plaque was to be installed in 1941, permission had been granted and from my assumption that Council were supportive……..nothing happened.

The next mention is in 1947 when good old George again raises the topic in a letter,

“This decision (to install the plaque) was arrived at in  August 1941 but was never given effect to, and – it might not be too late yet before the present Council expires by effluxion of time, to see that something is done to honour Lawson’s memory”.  

Unfortunately the Council must have “expired by the effluxion of time” because nothing happened.

But wait, there’s more.  Even after George himself expired in 1952 his thoughts and passion for his plaque remained.

Further mentions are made with Council approval for it to happen – but it does not. 

There are several mentions in following years, full of enthusiasm but – no result.  Poor old Henry is cast aside.

From the Advocate March 1954 “Mr A J Meagher has come to the rescue and donated special bricks to mount the plaque”.  Still nothing.

Now I realise that procrastination is nothing new and this is NOT a reflection on our current Council but I am going to stir the pot a bit and ask if something can be done for Henry’s 150th.  

The concept was mooted and passed in 1941 it is now 2017 that is … 76 YEARS AGO.

Apart from the Council itself supporting the project several of the best known families in Forbes the Gunns, Kellehers and the Meaghers, among others, supported it.

Personally, I have been trying to create a ‘Poets Place’  in Forbes for many years recognising  the Australian poets who worked and wrote in our area, Will Ogilvie and Breaker Morant are but two.

I know that there are lovers of poetry of all genres, I have spoken with them. Maybe I’m another George Gunn and will have to wait.

So how about it, Forbes folk?  Let’s have a bit of a say, avoid procrastination and get Henry his plaque, it will not cost much and will provide another point of interest and ‘experience’ for visitors to Forbes.  

So important.

George Gunn even had a little verse to put on his plaque, the chorus from Lawson’s ‘Lachlan Side’.

I'm off to the Lachlan Side, 

Where the bright lagoons are wide; 

I long for river and grass and tree, 

And someone dearer than all to me, 

Far out on the Lachlan Side. 

Rob Willis is a Forbes local and records oral histories for the National Library of Australia.

You can access his collection – which features the stories of many Forbes personalities as well as those from all over Australia – through trove.nla.gov.au