The Free Selector's Daughter

My Great Grandmother Bridget Anastasia Donnelly (nee Lambert) was the inspiration for a number of Henry Lawson's works including the one below.

                                                                                                Henry Lawson

Source: The Free-Selector's Daughter. (1905, January 18). Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), p. 41. Retrieved August 8, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71497959

'When he went back in 1891 to stay for a few weeks with old Harry O'Brien, who had been a mate of his father, and who was the tennant of the Lawson home, he met and became engaged to a niece of O'Brien- Bridget Lambert, who inspired 'The Drover's Sweetheart', 'The Free Selector's Daughter', and his sweetest poem, 'The Sliprails and the Spur'.

Source: Mann. Colin.  'Henry Lawson'  Angus and Robertson 1964 p.469

'Among the Mutch papers was a series of letters from Bridget Lambert, to whom Lawson became engaged in 1891.  She wrote about Lawson’s courtship, and of his visits to the schools at which she was teaching.'

Source: Chaplin. Harry F. ' Henry Lawson: his books, manuscripts, autograph letters and association copies, together with publications by Louisa Lawson'  Wentworth Press 1974. p.7