Which module is Our Pipes studied in for the HSC?

Our Pipes is studied among Henry Lawson's prescribed short stories for HSC English Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture.

Our Pipes was written by Henry Lawson, the Australian writer whose 1890s stories of bush life helped define the Australian bush identity.

What happens in Our Pipes?

While tramping with an unnamed narrator, Jack Mitchell recalls how he started smoking as a boy, his mother's punishments, and how the habit eventually became a point of unity with his father.

What are the main themes in Our Pipes?

The story explores emotion and the bush, challenging stereotypes of stoic, emotionally distant bushmen, and the hardship of bush life that only those with direct experience can truly understand.

How does Our Pipes connect to Shooting the Moon?

The unnamed narrator is presumed to be the same character in both stories, reinforcing the sense that Lawson's yarns are pauses in one continuing journey through the bush.

Our Pipes

Prescribed for HSC English 2024–2027 (NESA) · Last reviewed September 2026Our Pipes is a short story by Australian writer Henry Lawson, first published in the 1890s. In it, bushman Jack Mitchell recalls how he started smoking as a boy, revealing warmth beneath the swagman's blunt exterior.

Enquire Now

Our Pipes is a short story by Australian writer Henry Lawson, first published in the 1890s. In it, bushman Jack Mitchell recalls how he started smoking as a boy, revealing warmth beneath the swagman's blunt exterior. For the HSC, it is studied among Lawson's prescribed stories in English Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture.

Plot

This story features an unnamed narrator who we presume to be the same as in Shooting the Moon, and his companion, Jack Mitchell. This distinctive feature adds weight to the view that the conclusion of Shooting the Moon is more of a pause than an end, and as such reinforces the significance of relaxation to the bush experience – that is, that relaxation and the exchange of stories was something that bushmen enjoyed and prolonged when given the opportunity.

The significance of rest and relaxation to the bush experience is further conveyed through the narration ‘We had tramped twenty-five miles on a dry stretch on a hot day – swagmen know what that means.’

The narrative focus is realised by the narrator’s question to Jack, ‘How I came to start smoking?’ Jack then begins to recall his first experience of smoking, and how he was punished by his mother for it. He also reminisces on failed attempts at hiding his habit from his mother. Jack’s story concludes with his mother finally allowing him to smoke, which ultimately became a point of unity for him and his father, who was happy that he was able to borrow tobacco from his son. The story ends with the narrator asking if Jack’s dad is dead, to which Jack replies ‘Long ago – these twelve years.’

Context

Henry Lawson (1867-1922) was one of the most influential voices in Australian short fiction, and his stories of swagmen, drovers and bush families helped define the idea of an Australian bush identity in the 1890s. Our Pipes belongs to his sequence of Jack Mitchell stories, in which the talkative bushman spins yarns while tramping between jobs; the unnamed narrator here is presumed to be the same companion as in Shooting the Moon. Lawson drew on his own journey to drought-stricken rural New South Wales in 1892, which confronted him with the hardship endured by the people of the outback. Written when much of Lawson's city readership had never seen the bush frontier, the story's yarning structure imitates the oral storytelling culture of bush workers, for whom the exchange of stories was itself a form of rest. For the HSC, it is read alongside Lawson's other prescribed stories as a study of language, identity and culture.

Cultural Assumptions

Emotion and the Bush

This text disrupts stereotypes of men being stoic and emotionally distant because of their experiences in the bush, by centring Jack’s recollection of his early childhood experiences, in which he reflects on his relationship with his parents. Though he may speak bluntly and without much emotion, the act of opening up in this way is in itself a challenge to the assumption that men like the narrator and Jack had little care for emotion and sentimentality.

Hardship and the Bush

The story nonetheless affirms that life in the bush is challenging, and that direct experience with it is necessary to truly appreciate the strain it puts people under. This is reflected through the repetition of the dialogue ‘swagmen know what that means.’ To Lawson’s contemporary audiences, this line would have stood out as a reminder of the allure and mystery of the bush; it was something they had no experience with, and thus could not possibly understand – they could only imagine it.

Quote Table

“cursed society because we weren’t rich men”
Technique
Cynical voice
Idea
Struggles of the bush
“We lay down on our stomachs …..We didn’t eat much — we were too tired for that — but we drank a lot of tea.”
Technique
Collective pronouns
Idea
Collective identity, Swagman identity and culture
“‘Is your old man dead, Mitchell?’ I asked softly.”
Technique
Emotive dialogue
Idea
Loss, Swagman identity
“ask me for a fill”
Technique
Humour
Idea
Connection, Family relationships
“Swagmen know what that means”
Technique
Repetition
Idea
Collective identity, Swagman culture

Quote	Technique	Idea
“cursed society because we weren’t rich men”	Cynical voice	Struggles of the bush
“We lay down on our stomachs …..We didn’t eat much — we were too tired for that — but we drank a lot of tea.”	Collective pronouns	Collective identity, Swagman identity and culture
“‘Is your old man dead, Mitchell?’ I asked softly.”	Emotive dialogue	Loss, Swagman identity
“ask me for a fill”	Humour	Connection, Family relationships
“Swagmen know what that means”	Repetition	Collective identity, Swagman culture

Henry Lawson Short Stories - Visual Aid

Visual aidHenry Lawson Short Stories
Stories	The Drover's Wife The Union Buries Its Dead Shooting the Moon Our Pipes The Loaded Dog
Themes	Masculinity and its Distinctive Permeations Within Lawson's Texts The Transitional Nature of Gender Roles and Harshness of Bush Identity The Stoicism and Emotional Distance of Bush Living Catalysed by the Collective Unionism and Harsh Environments
Quotes	'Or hung myself, maybe, if things got too bad.' 'Shooting the Moon' Stoicism, bush life, stereotypical identity. "Liquor, however, is stronger than Unionism; and, when the hearse presently arrived, more than two-thirds of the funeral were unable to follow.", 'The Union Buries Its Dead' Stoicism, drinking culture, bush life, unionism. "But this bushwoman is used to the loneliness of it. As a girl-wife she hated it, but now she would feel strange away from it." 'The Drover's Wife', Gender, bush life, stoicism.
Context	Henry Lawson was born in 1867 and passed away in 1922 19th Century was the start of the Distinctive Australian bush identity Lawson became partially deaf at the age of nine, which is reflected in his description of isolation within his stories. It was the journey undertaken in September 1892 by Lawson to rural Bourke New South Wales that provided the inspiration for many of the stories in the collection set for study Lawson's purpose is to represent the authentic Australian identity and story.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which module is Our Pipes studied in for the HSC?: Our Pipes is studied among Henry Lawson's prescribed short stories for HSC English Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture.
Who wrote Our Pipes?: Our Pipes was written by Henry Lawson, the Australian writer whose 1890s stories of bush life helped define the Australian bush identity.
What happens in Our Pipes?: While tramping with an unnamed narrator, Jack Mitchell recalls how he started smoking as a boy, his mother's punishments, and how the habit eventually became a point of unity with his father.
What are the main themes in Our Pipes?: The story explores emotion and the bush, challenging stereotypes of stoic, emotionally distant bushmen, and the hardship of bush life that only those with direct experience can truly understand.
How does Our Pipes connect to Shooting the Moon?: The unnamed narrator is presumed to be the same character in both stories, reinforcing the sense that Lawson's yarns are pauses in one continuing journey through the bush.

Contact Us

Ready to get started, or have a question about tutoring?

Reach our team on 1800 002 085 (free to call) or send us an enquiry through our contact page.

Enquire Now Call 1800 002 085