OUR PIPES

by Henry Lawson
OUR PIPES-CONTEXT AND SYNOPSIS
� Taken from ‘While the Billy Boils’ book, the short story ‘Our
Pipes’ is told in the first person and both the narrator and Jack
Mitchell are depicted as swagmen. This is the same Jack
Mitchell that we saw in ‘Shooting the Moon’.
� Through their mutual connection as swagman, they are able to
identify with each other as kindred spirits and like minded
men.
� Whilst nothing very physical happens within the short story, it
doesn’t need too as we are constantly shown the collective
unity that both men share.
� The smoking of the pipe becomes a clear symbol of mateship,
commonality, defiance, resilience and hardship.
OUR PIPES-CONTEXT AND SYNOPSIS
� We are told of Mitchell’s trials in smoking and the angst that it
caused his mum but the jubilation that it gave his dad. We see
gender specific roles playing out in terms of mother being a
separate entity to the male bonding that exists between father
and son. The fathers joy is seen as a reflection of himself in
being denied the very thing that Mitchell seeks.
� The end of the story can be seen to convey ideas of loss as
Mitchell speaks of his father and the mutual respect that they
had.
� The fact that Mitchell says that he is yet to find a replacement
to share a smoke with suggests that Mitchell and the narrator
whilst close, do not share a bond as strong as that between
father and son.
Language, Culture and Identity

Language: How did Henry Lawson use language?

Culture: What elements of Australian culture are

being conveyed?

Identity: How would 19th century Australians

responded to the story and how do respond to it
now?
1. WHAT IS THE MAIN THEME IN THE
TEXT? Questions

WHAT TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN USED

BY THE COMPOSER TO CREATE THE
IMAGE OF THE LANDSCAPE?

HOW DO LANGUAGE FEATURES

CONVEY THE HARD LIFESTYLE
EXPERIENCED BY THE TWO
SWAGMAN?

HOW DOES LAWSON’S UNIQUE

JOURNALISTIC STYLE OF WRITING
AFFECT THE AUDIENCE?
 Questions
5. EXPLORE THE ROLE OF SMOKING IN
THIS STORY. HOW IS IT USED TO
STRENGTHEN THE EXPERIENCE
SHARED BY THE CHARACTERS?

6. WHY DOES MITCHELL’S MOTHER

RESPONSE TO HIS SMOKING CONTRAST
SO DRAMATICALLY WITH HIS FATHER’S
RESPONSE?

7. DISCUSS HOW THE TEXT

CHALLENGES OUR BELIEFS ABOUT THE
AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK LIFESTYLE?

8. IN WHAT WAY DOES THIS STORY

AFFIRM THE ICONIC IMAGE OF THE
AUSTRALIAN MALE.
 Alliteration

THE MOON rose away out on the edge of a smoky plain, seen
through a sort of tunnel or arch in the fringe of mulga behind
which we were camped—Jack Mitchell and I. The timber proper
was just behind us, very thick and very dark. The moon looked Imagery
like a big new copper boiler set on edge on the horizon of the
Alliteration plain, with the top turned towards us and a lot of old rags and
straw burning inside.

Descriptive We had tramped twenty-five miles on a dry stretch on a hot day—

Language swagmen know what that means. We reached the water about two Motif – a secret
hours “after dark”—swagmen know what that means. We didn’t knowledge that
sit down at once and rest—we hadn’t rested for the last ten miles. swagmen share –
more alienation
We knew that if we sat down we wouldn’t want to get up again in between rural
a hurry—that, if we did, our leg-sinews, especially those of our and non-rural
calves, would “draw” like red-hot wires. You see, we hadn’t been life
long on the track this time—it was only our third day out.
Swagmen will understand.
 Alliteration

We got the billy boiled first, and some leaves laid down for our
beds and the swags rolled out. We thanked the Lord that we had
some cooked meat and a few johnny-cakes left, for we didn’t feel
equal to cooking. We put the billy of tea and our tucker-bags
between the heads of our beds, and the pipes and tobacco in the
crown of an old hat, where we could reach them without having to
Colloquialism get up. Then we lay down on our stomachs and had a feed. We
didn’t eat much—we were too tired for that—but we drank a lot of
tea. We gave our calves time to tone down a bit; then we lit up and
began to answer each other. It got to be pretty comfortable, so long
as we kept those unfortunate legs of ours straight and didn’t move
round much.
Alliteration
We cursed society because we weren’t rich men, and then we felt
better and conversation drifted lazily round various subjects and
ended in that of smoking.

Here Lawson is trying to fight against the

romanticised view of rural life – it is a
common theme throughout his stories
 “How I came to start smoking?” said Mitchell. “Let’s see.” He reflected. “I started
smoking first when I was about fourteen or fifteen. I smoked some sort of weed—
I forget the name of it—but it wasn’t tobacco; and then I smoked cigarettes—not
the ones we get now, for those cost a penny each. Then I reckoned that, if I could
smoke those, I could smoke a pipe.”
Sibilance – creates a sense of
He reflected. sneakiness around the smoking

“We lived in Sydney then—Surry Hills. Those were different times; the place was
nearly all sand. The old folks were alive then, and we were all at home, except
Tom.”

He reflected.

Lack of “Ah, well! . . . Well, one evening I was playing marbles out in front of our house
emotion when a chap we knew gave me his pipe to mind while he went into a church-
around
death
meeting. The little church was opposite—a ‘chapel’ they called it.”

He reflected.
Motif – repetition of the idea that he
‘reflects’ on his ideas – reflecting
requires more thought than
remembering
The pipe was alight. It was a clay pipe and niggerhead tobacco. Mother was at work
out in the kitchen at the back, washing up the tea-things, and, when I went in, she
said: “You’ve been smoking!”
“Well, I couldn’t deny it—I was too sick to do so, or care much, anyway.

“‘Give me that pipe!’ she said.

The mother’s reaction reinforces the
“I said I hadn’t got it. previous sibilance that demonstrated that
he was sneaking around to smoke

“‘Give—me—that—pipe!’ she said.

“I said I hadn’t got it.

“‘Where is it?’ she said.

This is the most emotion expressed
“‘Jim Brown’s got it,’ I said, ‘it’s his.’

“‘Then I’ll give it to Jim Brown,’ she said; and she did; though it wasn’t
Jim’s fault, for he only gave it to me to mind. I didn’t smoke the pipe so
much because I wanted to smoke a pipe just then, as because I had such
a great admiration for Jim.”

Mitchell reflected, and took a look at the moon. It had risen clear and
had got small and cold and pure-looking, and had floated away back out
amongst the stars.

Personification
 “I felt better towards morning, but it didn’t cure me—being sick and
nearly dead all night, I mean. I got a clay pipe and tobacco, and the old
lady found it and put it in the stove. Then I got another pipe and tobacco,
and she laid for it, and found it out at last; but she didn’t put the tobacco in
the stove this time—she’d got experience. I don’t know what she did with
it. I tried to find it, but couldn’t. I fancy the old man got hold of it, for I
saw him with a plug that looked very much like mine.”

He reflected.

“But I wouldn’t be done. I got a cherry pipe. I thought it wouldn’t be so

easy to break if she found it. I used to plant the bowl in one place and the
stem in another because I reckoned that if she found one she mightn’t find
Motif the other. It doesn’t look much of an idea now, but it seemed like an
inspiration then. Kids get rum ideas.”

He reflected.
Hyperbole – to show how grand
things seem to children
 Dialogue – long sentence

“Well, one day I was having a smoke out at the back, when I heard her
coming, and I pulled out the stem in a hurry and put the bowl behind the
water-butt and the stem under the house. Mother was coming round for
a dipper of water. I got out of her way quick, for I hadn’t time to look
innocent; but the bowl of the pipe was hot and she got a whiff of it. She
went sniffing round, first on one side of the cask and then on the other,
until she got on the scent and followed it up and found the bowl. Then I
had only the stem left. She looked for that, but she couldn’t scent it. But
I couldn’t get much comfort out of that. Have you got the matches?
Reference
to Shooting
the Moon “Then I gave it best for a time and smoked cigars. They were the safest
and most satisfactory under the circumstances, but they cost me two
shillings a week, and I couldn’t stand it, so I started a pipe again and
then mother gave in at last. God bless her, and God forgive me, and us
all—we deserve it. She’s been at rest these seventeen long years.”

Reflects on the guilt he felt

about betraying his mother
Is he reflecting
on his mother? Mitchell reflected.
“And what did your old man do when he found out that you were
The idea of
reflection grows
smoking?” I asked.
as we learn “The old man?”
about the He reflected.
character “Well, he seemed to brighten up at first. You see, he was sort of
pensioned off by mother and she kept him pretty well inside his
income. . . . Well, he seemed to sort of brighten up—liven up—when
he found out that I was smoking.”
“Did he? So did my old man, and he livened me up, too. But what did
your old man do—what did he say?”
“Well,” said Mitchell, very slowly, “about the first thing he did was to
ask me for a fill.”
He reflected.
“Ah! many a solemn, thoughtful old smoke we had together on the
quiet—the old man and me.”
He reflected.
The story ends in
“Is your old man dead, Mitchell?” I asked softly.
death – “Long ago—these twelve years,” said Mitchell.
demonstrating
that the bush is
not a pleasant
place
 In this story, Henry Lawson brings to the fore the life of
swagmen, the relationships they share, and some of the traits and
The Swagman values they represent that have since become part of our national
character.
The figure of the swagman was a common and controversial
figure of 19th century Australian rural life. Itinerant (travelling
from place to place) workers who would travel from one farm to
the next, in search of work. They were familiar characters in
colonial NSW, especially during the drought of the 1880’s.
Reasons for choosing a life of swagman ranged from
unemployment, homelessness or wanderers who enjoyed
anonymity and freedom. Whatever the reasons for roaming the
bush, swagman faced an assortment of attitudes towards them.
They were welcomed by some farmers who were happy to offer
work, food and board for the completion of jobs whilst others
thought them lazy as there were some who would arrive at the
end of a working day but still receive a hot, cooked meal. These
were referred to as sundowners.
For women who spent vast amounts of time alone in the isolated
farmhouses, swagman were seen as dangerous and threatening.
 These conflicting perspectives were evident in literature of the
time. Writers such as Banjo Paterson depicted the
The Swagman ‘romanticised’ character of the swagman in his poem
‘Waltzing Matilda’ as one of folklore and hero. Henry Lawson
often conveyed the isolation and loneliness of the swagman.
The female author, Barbara Baynton in her 1896 novel ‘The
Chosen Vessel’, shows the predatory nature of the swagman.
This predatory nature was echoed within Lawson’s ‘The
Drover’s Wife when the wife must deal with ‘gallow-faced
swagman’ “who having satisfied himself that there were no
men on the place- threw his swag down on the veranda, and
demanded tucker.”
However, in ‘Shooting the Moon’, Jack Mitchell, Tom and the
narrator offer a much more complex set of the swagman
character. The bonds of mateship are forged through the
shared experience. The values of loyalty and honesty are also
explored in which Henry Lawson successfully challenges the
perception of swagman as lazy and deceitful. Indeed, the story
of them both trying to evade the landlord extends to the
swagman a sense of understanding and compassion as seen
from the landlord.
 The Last Swagman

Article and brief video on

Australian swagman, Campbell.

John, the swagman

Very brief video on the swagman

‘John’.