The Loaded

Dog
HENRY LAWSON
 Dave dives on Tommy and gets the explosive off him and
throws it away. The dog thinks it’s a stick and brings it back,
Summary: continuing to chase them.
Dave runs into the local pub on the main road and shouts
warnings to everyone. They shut the dog out by closing the
front door…but Tommy goes in the back (he is loving this
game).
Everyone makes a run for it while Tommy goes under the
kitchen. There he meets a nasty dog which is known for biting
other dogs.
It bites Tommy who then drops the cartridge and runs away.
The nasty dog sniffs it and gets blown up. This becomes a
bush legend.

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 This story starts with three men- Dave, Jim, Andy and their
dog,Tommy. They are fishing, having a little break from mining
gold but are having no luck with either. The fish are laying low
so the men decide to put an explosive in the water to bring
Summary: the fish to the surface. The explosive needs to be waterproof
and Andy spends a whole day doing this. The other men are
down the mine shaft but come up for dinner. As they are
about to eat, they notice that Tommy the dog has grabbed the
explosive. It had a really long fuse because it was going to be
submerged and Tommy drags the fuse through the campfire.
Then there is a comic (almost like a cartoon) chase where the
men are trying to run from the dog who thinks it is a fun
game.

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THE LOADED DOG
READING
Read by Jack Thompson

4
Module A Connections:
This is a story which
establishes a few
Australian Identity
concepts: mateship, bush
legends, The larrikin (jokey,
cheeky ‘bloke’)

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 1
MATESHIP
Let’s find some
examples of this in
the text
6
“
Find quote as example

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 The Loaded Dog explores that
particularly Australian sense of
mateship that existed between bush
MATESHI men. The three men, Jim, Dave and
P Andy have a strong bond with one
another. This is not directly stated in
the story but is shown in their actions,
particularly the way that Andy and
Dave work together to create the
cartridge. Lawson showed this strong
sense of mateship in his stories and
particularly in relation to bush
characters.
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 The mateship that exists between man
and animal is emphasised to an even
greater extent in this story. Tommy,
MATESHI the retriever, is portrayed as having
P human like qualities. Tommy is silly,
mischievous and really quite a nuisance
yet the bond remains between the men
and Tommy. There is no suggestion that
Tommy’s deeds with the cartridge are
punished at all. Tommy is a loyal
companion to the men and they try to
treat him as a mate. The strong bond
between humans and animals can also be
examined in The Drover’s Wife. 9
 Write a fluent TQE about Lawson’s
perceptions of Mateship within Colonial
Australia throughout his short story ‘The
Loaded Dog’

LLINK
TO Example/ Technique: Effect/ Affirm, Ignore,
Challenge,
MODULE: Quote Impact reveal, Disrupt

MATESHIP

10
AUSTRALI
AN
CHARACTE
RS: The
Larrikin
Let’s find some
examples of this in
the text
11
 A larrikin is considered to be a ‘mischievous
young person’ or a person who appears to
‘act in disregard of social or political
conventions’. It has been said that Australia’s
AUSTRALI
larrikinism may have arisen in reaction to
AN
corrupt, arbitrary authority during Australia’s
CHARACT
days as a penal colony.
ERS
The In this story Lawson constructs distinctive
Larrikin characters in an evocative setting to tell us
about the larrikin archetype and their
challenges and battles. Set in the goldfields,
it subtly hints at the empty dreams of the
gold diggers and gives us an inkling of the
hardships they faced. 12
“
Find quote as example

13
 Write a fluent TQE exploring Lawson’s
perceptions of typical Australian characters
within Colonial Australian bush life
throughout his short story ‘The Loaded Dog’

LLINK
TO Example/ Technique: Effect/ Affirm, Ignore,
Challenge,
MODULE: Quote Impact reveal, Disrupt

Australian
Characters:
Larrikin

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 3
AUSTRALIAN
HUMOUR:
Slapstick and Black
Humour
Let’s find some
examples of this in
the15text
“
Find quote from text to
support Australian Humour.

16
 They could never explain, any more than the dog, why they
followed each other, but so they ran, Dave keeping in Jim’s
track in all its turnings, Andy after Dave, and the dog
circling round Andy—the live fuse swishing in all directions
AUSTRALI and hissing and spluttering and stinking. Jim yelling to Dave
AN not to follow him, Dave shouting to Andy to go in another
HUMOUR direction— to "spread out," and Andy roaring at the dog to
go home.
Slapstick
and Black
Humour One of the longest sentences in the entire story, filled with
punctuation that is clearly intended to mirror the confusion
and chaos of the action that it describes. This is slapstick -
physical comedy - which creates the humour in the scene.

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 Write a fluent TQE exploring Lawson’s use
of Australian Humour to symbolise or
represent the Australian bush culture
throughout his short story ‘The Loaded Dog’

LLINK
TO Example/ Technique: Effect/ Affirm, Ignore,
Challenge,
MODULE: Quote Impact reveal, Disrupt

Australian
Humour

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 4
RELAXED
ATTITUDE:
Toward work and
leisure
Let’s find some
examples of this in
the19text
Annotations
https://wwhsmissh
olding.weebly.com/
uploads/9/7/7/0/9
7709444/the_loade
d_dog_annotated.p
df
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How does it still
resonates today
and affirm
Lawson’s view of
laconic humour?
Aami ad- the loaded dog

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