DEATH OF AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR.
Mining Tales and Other Volumes.
Mr. Edward Dyson, one of the ablest and most versatile of Australian writers, died at his home, 94 Tennyson street, St. Kilda, early on Saturday morning after a long illness. His age was 66 years.
Beginning to write in early youth Mr. Dyson became one of the best-known of the Sydney "Bulletin" authors in the years when much work by Henry Lawson, A.B. Paterson, and Victor Daley was being published. He was born at Morrisons in the Ballan district, on March 4, 1865 and his early years were passed on various mining fields in Victoria. Much of his work related to mining life. The memories of his father, who arrived in Australia in 1852, suggested some of his stories of the goldfields. His own experiences of mining fields in Victoria and Tasmania, active or worked out, were also freely used. "A Golden Shanty," Mr. Dyson's humorous tale of an old field, gave the title to a widely read collection of writings by Australian authors published in Sydney in the late eighties, and with other stories of his own it was issued independently at a subsequent period. "Rhymes from the Mines," which appeared in Sydney in 1896, contained that striking poem "The Worked-out Mine." The title of "Below and On Top" (Melbourne, 1898) suggested the well-written mining stones which were added in that book to miscellaneous narratives; and there were similar themes in the long story, "The Gold Stealers" (London, 1901) one of his best works, and in the novel "In the Roaring Fifties," which he regarded as his principal volume. ln addition to much entertaining topical and miscellaneous work in prose and verse Mr. Dyson wrote several series of light stories for the "Bulletin" and Melbourne "Punch." These were collected in "Fact'ry 'Ands" (Melbourne, 1907), "The Missing Link," "Tommy the Hawker," and other volumes. Some of the books were illustrated by his brother, Mr. Will Dyson, the noted caricaturist. Another brother, Mr. Ambrose Dyson, who died some years ago, also had ability as a black-and-white artist. Plays were based by Mr. Dyson on "Fact'ry 'Ands" and other stories.
Mr. Dyson has left a widow and a daughter.
First published in The Argus, 24 August 1931
[Thanks to the National Library of Australia's newspaper digitisation project for this piece.]
