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D. H. LawrencePrint Page Print this page

04-September-2013
04-September-2013

Photographs supplied by Peter Spencer / Graeme Saunders

The reserve and a memorial commemorate D. H. Lawrence who was living in Australia at Thirroul in 1922 when he wrote the novel "Kangaroo". He spent four months in Australia, drawing on the experience to write one novel and collaborate on another.  D.H. Lawrence`s novel Kangaroo put Thirroul on the map.

David Herbert Lawrence (1885 – 1930) was an English writer and poet. His collected works represent, among other things, an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. Lawrence's writing explores issues such as sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity, and instinct. His works include Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley`s Lover.  

Lawrence's opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile he called his "savage pilgrimage". It was during this period while residing in Australia, he wrote the novel Kangaroo. 

At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents. E.M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as "the greatest imaginative novelist of our generation." Later, the literary critic F.R.Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness.

Location

Address:Craig Street, D. H. Lawrence Reserve, Thirroul, 2515
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -34.321117
Long: 150.925161
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Park
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Arts

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Saturday 21st November, 1998
Front Inscription

This monument is a tribute to D H Lawrence, one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, who came here in 1922 and stayed in this street.  It was during his stay in Thirroul that he wrote his Australian novel Kangaroo.  This novel gives us an invaluable description of the land and sea around Thirroul, as it was in the 1920`s.

"And so the great tree-covered swoop upwards of the tor, to the red fume of clouds, red like the flame flowers, of sunset."
DHL, Kangaroo

Unveiled 21st November 1998

Inscription in Proximity

D. H. Lawrence Reserve

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au