ABSTRACT
Whatever the relative importance of the disparate Australian ingredients in Lawrence’s post-war life, a pronounced “tilt” towards Australia occurs in Lawrence’s fiction, as evidenced by his introduction of Australian characters into The Lost Girl and Aaron’s Rod, which were published in 1920 and 1922, respectively. It seems that with these novels, Lawrence was re-engaging with his mid-war interest in Australia and beginning to fashion a deeper vision of the country. The positive Australian characters in these novels (as well as the reference to Australia in the uncompleted Mr Noon) point to an intensification of Lawrence’s interest in Australia as a country of promise in the years leading up to his journey there in 1922. While it is commonly held that Lawrence’s visit to Australia was a by-product of his journeys to Ceylon and America, it appears that Australia was well to the fore in Lawrence’s mind at the end of 1921 as he shaped his plans for travel to America to stay with Mabel Sterne (later Luhan). His decision to approach America “from the east” (iv. 168), that is from Asia, rather than from the European side, was probably influenced, if not determined, by the opportunity it provided for him to visit Australia.
