Edward George Dyson was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n journalist, poet, playwright and short story writer. He was the elder brother of talented illustrators Will Dyson

Will Dyson

]William Henry Dyson was an Australian illustrator and political cartoonist.-Early life:Dyson was born at Alfredton, near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, the son of George Dyson, then a hawker and later a mining engineer, and his wife Jane, née Mayall. Dyson was educated at state schools at...

 and Ambrose Dyson

Ambrose Dyson

Ambrose Dyson , often known as Amb Dyson was an Australian illustrator and political cartoonist, born at Alfredton, near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, the son of George Dyson, then a hawker and later a mining engineer, and his wife Jane, née Mayall. He was educated at state schools at Ballarat and...

.

Early life

He was born at Morrisons near Ballarat in March 1865. His father, George Dyson, arrived in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1852 and after working on various diggings became a mining engineer. His mother, Jane, née Mayall, came from 'a life of refinement in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

'. The family led a roving life during Dyson's childhood, moving successively to Alfredton

Alfredton, Victoria

Alfredton is a rural-urban fringe suburb west of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The population at the 2006 census was 5,796 making it the fourth most populated in the Ballarat urban area.Alfredton is located west of Lake Wendouree along Sturt Street...

, Bendigo, Ballarat and Alfredton again.

At 12 he began to work as an assistant to a travelling draper, During his teens he worked in various jobs 'below and on top' at Ballarat, Clunes, Bungaree, Lefroy (Tasmania), Smeaton and Gordon. About 1883 the family settled in South Melbourne.

Writing career

At 19, he began writing verse and, a few years later, embarked on a life of freelance journalism which lasted until his death. In 1896 he published a volume of poems, Rhymes from the Mines and, in 1898, the first collection of his short stories, Below and On Top.

His first real success came in 1889 when his short story A Golden Shanty was used as the title-piece in the Bulletin's Christmas anthology. His play, The Golden Shanty was first performed in Sydney on 30 August 1913.

In 1901, his first long story, The Gold-stealers, was published in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, which was followed by In the Roaring Fifties in 1906. In the same year appeared Fact'ry 'Ands, a series of more or less connected sketches dealing with factory life in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in a vein of humour. Various other stories and collections of stories were published in the Bookstall Series and will be found listed in Miller's bibliography of Australian Literature

Australian literature

Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary tradition begins with and is linked to...

.
Another volume of verse, Hello, Soldier!, appeared in 1919. Dyson did an enormous amount of work for many years until he broke down under the strain and died after a long illness on 22 August 1931. His wife Dorothy (née Boyes), whom he married in 1914, survived him with their one daughter aged 14.

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