A Cosmopolitan Jindyworobak: Flexmore Hudson, nationalism and world-mindedness

Abstract

When interviewed by Hazel de Berg in 1969 Hudson recalled that his 'was a colourful, good kind of childhood for a poet, because it enriched the senses.' [...]as a student of Mr W.R. Tynan of Thornleigh Public School in Sydney, Hudson was encouraged in his poetic pursuits, and particularly to take the Australian bush as a subject (Hudson, Interview). 1 Despite this early interest in poetry, when he finished his secondary education at Adelaide High School Hudson wanted to join the army but was persuaded by his disapproving father to become a teacher instead (Hudson, Interview). Since the end of World War One, many writers felt stifled by Bulletin-dominated literary conservatism and a politically disinterested suburban population (Walker 148), but were fired by the atmosphere of crisis to politicise their writing and emphasise the social role of the writer (Carter 25). According to Buckridge and Morecroft, world-mindedness was an attempt to 'hold back the tides of hatred, prejudice and ignorance that seemed . . . to be engulfing Europe and threatening Britain and the Empire' (49). According to Worster, it was during this period that the word 'environment' began to imply 'a set of interactive relationships between humans and the rest of nature' on a global scale (352). Show more