While the Billy Boils, 1913 - frontispiece

Brummy Hewson also known as Brummy Hughson or Brummy Usen is a recurring

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...

in the works of writer and

bush poet The bush ballad, bush song or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of a ...

, Australia's

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...

. Brummy is described as a

swagman A swagman (also called a swaggie, sundowner or tussocker) was a transient labourer who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying his belongings in a swag. The term originated in Australia in the 19th century and was later used in New Zeala ...

or bush traveller. In the story ''Bush Undertaker'' he is described as a good worker, yet had ''wasted his

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

'', although much about his identity is wrapped by Lawson in

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

and subterfuge. Elsewhere he is called a

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up "robbery under ...

. Indeed, in the book ''

While the Billy Boils ''While the Billy Boils'' is a 1921 Australian film from director Beaumont Smith which adapts several stories from Henry Lawson. It is considered a lost film. Plot Bob Brothers (Tal Ordell) is a bushman who quarrelled with his father ten years ...

'' a tale of Brummy is recounted by a nameless

, when the reader is left with the feeling that the nameless swagman telling his tale may actually be the supposedly deceased Hewson. Brummy Hewson may have been based on John "Brummy" Hewson, a claims minder and dubious "horse trader" active in the Mudgee Area while Lawson was growing up. The character Brummy is mentioned in: *''

'', by Henry Lawson While the Billy Boils
, by Henry Lawson. *''

The Bush Undertaker "The Bush Undertaker" is a short story by Australian writer and poet Henry Lawson. Along with "The Drover's Wife", "The Bush Undertaker" is one of Lawson's first sketches, and is among the stories for which he first gained attention as an accomplis ...

'' *''He Had so Much Work to Do''Robert Beardwood, Selected Short Stories, Henry Lawson (Insight Publications, 2002
p.57

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewson, Brummy Fictional Australian people Fictional alcohol abusers