Probably Lawrence's greatest fan in Australia was our Nobel-Prize-winning author, Patrick White. He regarded Lawrence as one of the major figures in world literature. He was deeply affected by his work, and his early novels in particular show a distinct Lawrentian influence.

When in 1988 the then-owner of "Wyewurk" applied to have a second storey built on Lawrence's "bungalow by the sea", Patrick White sprang to the literary ramparts in defence of its preservation.

In a letter of support he wrote:

 

"Wyewurk" should be preserved and restored to its original condition as the house where Lawrence lived while writing his novel Kangaroo. It could become a place of pilgrimage for tourists less interested in the mostly Philistine pursuits Australia has to offer. As our politicians harp on about tourism, their minds are chiefly concentrated on sport, hotels, beaches and casinos, whereas "Wyewurk" Thirroul is an opportunity to aim at attracting a more civilised type of visitor; they do exist in considerable numbers.

 

 

Others, however, were not so entranced by Lawrence and his Australian novel. The then doyenne of Australian literary studies, Dorothy Green, when asked to support the preservation of "Wyewurk", replied:

My admiration for Lawrence as a writer is very qualified and I do not admire Kangaroo at all. My opinion of Lawrence as a man...is not a very high one...much of his writing was indistinguishable from that of Ethel M. Dell.

...now that is a put-down, "his writing was indistinguishable from that of Ethel M. Dell"!

The first copies of Kangaroo reached Australia only a few months after its publication in London and New York (despite Lawrence's preference - discussed with Mountsier - to reserve the Australian rights of Kangaroo to himself).

However, these early copies may have been more in the nature of review copies, sent out by Secker as either pre-publicity for a proper sales push, or to test the likely interest in the novel.

For in fact it was Lawrence's "second Australian novel", The Boy in the Bush, (co-authored by his West Australian landlady, Mollie Skinner) that first made a publishing impact locally.

(Of course, as we now know, Lawrence may have had reason to entertain reservations about how his novel would be received in Australia.)

In any case, the reception of The Boy in the Bush had been most encouraging for its Australian distributors, Robertson and Mullen. Their initial "print run" of 1000 copies had sold out, and they had ordered another 500.

This success led them to ask Secker if he had anything else that might be of interest to Australian readers.

Well, yes, there was. So Robertson and Mullen ordered 500 copies of Secker's edition of Kangaroo. It went on sale in late 1924. (One can be reasonably sure where some early copies went.)

Initially, the Australian crits were favourable. Vance Palmer in The Triad (December 1924) described Kangaroo as "a very valuable book for us...He reveals a portion of the truth about us, as only an artist can." The Bulletin reviewer ("McL") said Lawrence had written "a beautiful book that is full of the sunshine and flowers of Australia, with many quiet little gibes at our peculiarities at which nobody could take offence". However, Archibald Strong, in the Melbourne Herald, found the plot, and particularly its chief protagonist, unconvincing: "Kangaroo, unfortunately, is an entirely preposterous character."