John "Jack" Mitchell, often referred to only as Mitchell, is a recurring fictional character in the short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 and sketches

Sketch story

A sketch story, or sketch, is a piece of writing that is generally shorter than a short story, and contains very little, if any, plot. The term was most popularly-used in the late nineteenth century. As a literary work, it is also often referred to simply as the sketch.-Style:A sketch is mainly...

 by 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 writer Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...

. He is widely considered one of Lawson's most memorable characters.

Description

Mitchell has been described as a "shrewd, kindly, and philosophical swagman

Swagman

A swagman is an old Australian and New Zealand term describing an underclass of transient temporary workers, who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying the traditional swag...

." Critic John Barnes suggests that Mitchell functions as a persona rather than a fully developed character, replacing the author as narrator and storyteller, an "instrument by which Lawson can create states of feeling and so define his sense of being human." Mitchell is usually depicted as a traveller, often accompanied by a companion with whom he shares stories. He has been likened to the Romantic outcast figure of The Wanderer

The Wanderer (poem)

The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only in an anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscript dating from the late 10th century. It counts 115 lines of alliterative verse...

.

Published Jack Mitchell Stories

Jack Mitchell appeared in the following Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...

 stories, among others:

• "Mitchell: A Character Sketch"
• "On The Edge Of A Plain
  On The Edge Of A Plain
  "On The Edge Of A Plain" is a sketch story by Australian writer Henry Lawson, featuring his recurring character Jack Mitchell. The story was originally published in The Bulletin on 6 May 1893, and was collected in While the Billy Boils in 1896...
  
  "
• "'Some Day'"
• "Shooting The Moon"
• "Our Pipes"
• "Bill, the Ventriloquial Rooster
  Bill, the Ventriloquial Rooster
  "Bill, the Ventriloquial Rooster" is a sketch story by Australian writer Henry Lawson. The sketch is one of many to include Jack Mitchell the swagman as the its main character and narrator...
  
  "
• "Enter Mitchell"
• "Mitchell Doesn't Believe in the Sack"
• "Another of Mitchell's Plans"