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ODOWD, BERNARD (1866-1953) |
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Written by Steven Dowd
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| ODOWD, BERNARD (1866-1953)
Bernard ODowd, born in Beaufort, Victoria, was an opponent of Federation involved with the radical journal Tocsin. He wrote many satirical poems therein about Federation and a clause by clause critique of the draft Federal Bill. He saw future dangers in State/Federal rivalry to working people, warned of the unspecified powers given to the Governor General and considered a federated Australia to be at a disadvantage compared with more "unitary" countries. |
Poet (ODowds best know poem - The Bush was written in 1912), journalist and public servant, he worked with the Victorian Supreme Court for many years while also being involved in literature, publishing and politics. The National Library has copies of letters written in 1890 to the US poet Walt Whitman (MS 436) and other material about his early 20th-century poetry and Australian politics (MS 273).
Books of interest
Anderson, Hugh. (1968). Bernard ODowd. Twaynes world author series. New York.)
Anderson, Hugh. (2000). The Tocsin : contesting the constitution; 1897-1901. Enlarged and revised from 1977 edition. Melbourne. (includes poetry and prose by ODowd).
Wilde, W. H. (1969). Three radicals. Australian writers and their work. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. (pp. 20-28 deal with ODowd)
The poems of Bernard ODowd. (1941). with an introduction by Walter Murdoch. Melbourne: Lothian.
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