Shaw Neilson

John Shaw Neilson
Born
John Shaw Neilson

(1872-02-22)22 February 1872
Died12 May 1942(1942-05-12) (aged 70)
OccupationPoet
NationalityAustralian
Period1896–1938
GenreLyric poetry
Notable works"The Orange Tree"

John Shaw Neilson (22 February 1872 – 12 May 1942) was an Australian poet.

For most of his life, Neilson was a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and after 1928, working as a messenger with the Country Roads Board in Melbourne. Largely untrained and only basically educated, Neilson became known as one of Australia's finest lyric poets, who wrote a great deal about the natural world and its beauty.