Adam Lindsay Gordon

Adam Lindsay Gordon was born on this day in 1833 in Fayal, Azores, Portugal. While no longer the "iconic" poet of the likes of Lawson or Paterson, Gordon remains the only Australian to have a plaque in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, London. Gordon's family took him to England when he was young and it was there that he completed his education. He was then sent by his family to South Australia in 1853 where he enlisted in the mounted police. He was briefly a member of Parliament and lived in Western Australia and Ballarat before moving to Melbourne. During his time in Ballarat he suffered a severe head injury in a riding accident, was bankrupted by a fire in the livery stable and lost his infant daughter. The day after the publication of his poems in Bush Ballads and Galloping Rhymes he committed suicide on Brighton Beach in Melbourne. He died on 24 June 1870.