THE MAIN physical monument to DH Lawrence in Sydney is a roundel set in the pathway that skirts the shore of Circular Quay, in what is called “Writers Walk” (it com-memorates the visit to Sydney of other famous writers, including Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson and Joseph Conrad). Charles Dickens is not commemorated there, for he never came to Sydney. But now there is a statue of him in Sydney’s Centennial Park, and our DH Lawrence Society of Australia was invited to attend its unveiling a few weeks ago.

It was a most impressive literary occasion. All the other Sydney literary societies had been invited to send representatives to be present, and our party comprised our president, John Lacey, secretary Sandra Jobson-Darroch, and vice-president Robert Darroch. (the invitation was a fruit of the recent formation of the Sydney Literary Societies group.)

The statue itself had been

The shrouded statue awaits unveiling

Photos: John Lacey

originally commission by Sir Henry Parkes in the1880s and erected on Dickens Drive in the park. (Parkes was a great fan of Dickens, and befriended his two sons who emigrated to Australia.) Later the statue was vandalised, and dis-appeared for many decades – until it was rediscovered in the Blue Mountains and restored by the NSW State Government (it had lost its head).

The NSW Governor, Marie Bashir (also a great Dickens fan), unveiled the life-size statue – almost in its pristine condition – and gave a lovely speech describing her childhood readings of Dickens, and the fact that she still reads him today (she also mentioned the Dickens characters who had “Australian connections”, including Micawber and Magwitch).

Alas, Lawrence was not a great fan of Dickens (though he had some regard for David Copperfield). "There is something fundamental about him that I dislike," he wrote in 1913. "He is mid-Victorian, he is so governessy towards life, as if it were a naughty child...Curse him."

 

Members of Lit Soc Syd at the statue