by
J. T. Laird
Harley
Matthews (1889-1968), writer, soldier and vigneron, was born on 27 April 1889
at St Leonards, Sydney, son of Henry Matthews, clerk, and his wife Edith, née
Morgan, both born in New South Wales. Registered at birth as Harry Matthews, he
grew up on his parents' vineyard at Fairfield and was educated at Sydney Boys'
High School. After working as an articled clerk in 1906-14 he enlisted as a
private in the 4th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, on 13 September 1914.
He took part in the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, was mentioned in
dispatches and wounded early in August. After service in France, in August 1916
he was posted to the Australian Army Pay Corps at A.I.F. Headquarters, London;
repatriated towards the end of 1917, he was discharged on 29 December.
Matthews
next pursued a career in journalism, at first on the Sydney Sun, and from 1920
freelance writing in the United States of America. On his return in 1922 he
briefly re-joined the Sun but soon afterwards, disillusioned by both the law and
journalism, decided to become a wine-grower. He had married on 3 March 1920
Barbara Sarah Filder Goode at the Registrar General's Office, Sydney, and they
bought 57 acres (23 ha), on the Georges River at Moorebank, which Matthews
proceeded to clear and plant with characteristic energy and determination. Once
established, his vineyard quickly became a popular venue for a large group of
mostly Bohemian 'writers, artists, eccentrics and spare-time philosophers' (to
use Kenneth Slessor's description) who frequented it in search of good talk and
good wine.
In
1912-38 Matthews published in Sydney three books of verse and a volume of short
stories. In his first volume of verse, Under the Open Sky (1912), Matthews is
the 'simple chorister' of the Australian bush and the teller of romantic tales.
It was published in London in 1916 under the same title but with mainly new
content; amid the poems of Nature and fantasy were a sprinkling of war poems,
notably the love-lyric, 'The Mirror'. Trio (1931) displayed qualities of
vigour, drama, realism, and technical freedom previously lacking. His
contribution to this volume was the Gallipoli narrative 'Two Brothers' (one of
the other two poems being Slessor's 'Five Visions of Captain Cook'). 'Two
Brothers' reappeared in Matthews's next volume Vintage (1938), a collection of
four Gallipoli narratives and four lyrics, republished as Vintage of War in
1940. His volume of twenty short stories, Saints and Soldiers (1918),
illustrating the typical traits and exploits of diggers during the war, is most
successful when the tone is humorous.
His
life changed radically during World War II. On 23 December 1940 he was granted
a dissolution of marriage. Then, on 10 March 1942, by an ironic stroke of fate
the patriotic Matthews was wrongfully arrested as a seditionist. The Gallipoli
veteran, who in 1916 had served as model in London for Jacob Epstein's bronze
head of the soldier epitomizing 'the spirit of Anzac' (now in the Imperial War
Museum), found himself confined in an internment camp at the Anzac Rifle Range,
Liverpool. He remained there without being charged or brought to trial, as a
suspected member of the Australia First Movement, for six months. The 'grave
blunder' made by military intelligence in detaining Matthews was not publicly
acknowledged until 12 September 1945. The report of the Clyne royal commission
into the Australia First Movement then found that Matthews 'was not a member'
and was 'a loyal subject', and recommended that he be awarded £700
compensation.
From
1943 Matthews lived alone on a mixed farm at Ingleburn where he planted a small
vineyard, entertained his many visitors, and continued to read and write
poetry. His early poem, 'The Breaking of the Drought', was republished as a
separate booklet in 1940, but no further volume appeared until Patriot's
Progress (Adelaide, 1965). This collection of mainly lyrical pieces, written
over many years, expresses the author's independent spirit, love of the
Australian countryside, and scorn for conformists, town-dwellers, materialists,
and seekers after 'gain or power'. The style is frequently reminiscent, as
Slessor observes, of 'that other farmer-poet Robert Frost'.
Matthews's
other publications were a selection of short stories, Wet Canteen (1939); We
Are the People (1940), a three-act play on the theme of snobbery and
class-distinction in Australia; and Pillar to Post (1944), a short-story
anthology which he edited.
Matthews,
described by Douglas Stewart as 'a small, dark, wiry man', died at the
Repatriation Hospital, Concord, on 9 August 1968 and was cremated. He left no
children.
Select
Bibliography
B. Muirden, The Puzzled Patriots (Melb, 1968)
P. Hasluck, The Government and the People, 1942-1945, vol 2
(Canb, 1970)
K. Slessor, Bread and Wine (Syd, 1970)
D. Stewart, A Man of Sydney (Melb, 1977)
Smith's Weekly (Sydney), 22 Sept 1945
Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 13 Aug 1968
Miles Franklin papers (State Library of New South Wales)
Kenneth Slessor papers (National Library of Australia)
copies of letters and other documents relating to internment
(F940.950901, State Library of New South Wales)
holograph and typed copies of poems (MSS 1953, 1214, State
Library of New South Wales).
Sources:
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