Steelman and Smith are two fictional characters appearing in a series of short stories by Australian writer

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 ...

Background

In 1893, Henry Lawson travelled to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where he initially spent three months unemployed in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

, sleeping in a sewerage pipe. He then became a telegraph linesman on New Zealand's South Island, working in a team that was laying a cable between Picton and

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. Lawson later described these times as among the happiest of his life. These experiences have been credited with inspiring his Steelman and Smith stories. It is reputed that the Steelman character was modelled on a "commercial traveller" that Lawson met during this period. Smith was partly a self-portrait, based, according to Lawson, on "the weaker side of myself."

Description

Steelman and Smith are

con-artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have ...

s living in New Zealand, described in one story as "professional wanderers." Steelman "survives on the sharpness of his wits", while Smith is his "dim-witted and naive offsider." Steelman is usually successful in his ruses, with the exception of the story "The Geological Spieler."

Legacy

According to the ''Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'', the Steelman character "is the focus for some of Lawson's best yarns and tall stories utlacks the complexity of other recurring characters in Lawson's fiction such as Jack Mitchell and Dave Regan." Dorothy Hewett described the pair as "outsiders journeying on a discovery of themselves and society." The Steelman and Smith stories were adapted into "Steelman and Smith", an episode of the television series '' Lawson's Mates'', which aired on ABC TV on 2 February 1980. The episode was adapted by Cliff Green and featured

Steve Bisley Steve Bisley (born 26 December 1951) is an Australian writer, film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' Mad Max'' and ''The Great Gatsby''. On TV, some of his better-known roles include Detective Sergeant Jack C ...

. In February 1944, radio station 2GB adapted "Steelman's Pupil" into a

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

narrated by Lloyd Berrell, along with several other Lawson stories.

Bibliography

References

{{reflist Steelman and Smith Fictional Australian people