D. H. Deniehy, Henry Halloran, J. Sheridan Moore and Richard Rowe
contributed fairly good verse to the newspapers, the principal of which were
`The Atlas' (1845-9), `The Empire' (1850-8), and two papers still in existence
-- `The Freeman's Journal' (1850) and `The Sydney Morning Herald',
which began as `The Sydney Herald' in 1831. None of their writings, however,
reflected to any appreciable extent the scenery or life of the new country.

With the discovery of gold a new era began for Australia.
That event induced the flow of a large stream of immigration,
and gave an enormous impetus to the development of the colonies.
Among the ardent spirits attracted here were J. Lionel Michael, Robert Sealy,
R. H. Horne, the Howitts, Henry Kingsley and Adam Lindsay Gordon. Michael was
a friend of Millais, and an early champion of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Soon after his arrival in Sydney he abandoned the idea of digging for gold,
and began to practise again as a solicitor. Later on he removed to Grafton
on the Clarence River; there in 1857 Henry Kendall, a boy of 16,
found work in his office, and Michael, discerning his promise,
encouraged him to write. Most of the boy's earliest verses
were sent from Michael's office to Parkes, who printed them
in his paper `The Empire'. When Kendall left Grafton,
Michael gave him a letter of introduction to Stenhouse,
which brought him in touch with the small literary group in Sydney;
and his first volume, "Poems and Songs", was published in Sydney in 1862.
It was not long before he recognised the extreme weakness
of most of its contents, and did what he could to suppress the book.
He sent specimens of his best work to the London `Athenaeum',
and wrote a pathetic letter to the Editor, which was printed
in the issue of 27th September, 1862, together with some of the poems
and a most kindly comment. Kendall soon wrote again, sending more poems,
and received encouraging notices in `The Athenaeum' on 19th September, 1863,