Barcroft Boake | |
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| Born | Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake 26 March 1866 Balmain, New South Wales |
| Died | 2 May 1892 (aged 26) Long Bay, North Sydney, New South Wales |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Genre | Bush poetry |
| Literary movement | Bulletin School |
| Years active | 1890–1892 |
| Notable works | "Where the Dead Men Lie" |
| Relatives |
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Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake (26 March 1866 – 2 May 1892) was an Australian stockman and poet who wrote primarily within the bush poetry tradition. He was active for only a few years before his suicide at the age of 26.
Boake was born in Sydney to Irish-born professional photographer Barcroft Capel Boake; his mother died when he was thirteen. Educated at private schools, including a brief period in New Caledonia, Boake left home at the age of 17 and was apprenticed as a surveyor's draughtsman. He disliked clerical work and in 1886 moved to the Monaro to work as an assistant surveyor. He later worked as a boundary rider and drover in the Outback. He returned to Sydney in early 1892 and hanged himself with a stockwhip a few months later.
Boake was first published in late 1890 and regularly appeared in The Bulletin prior to his death, with the posthumous publication of Where the Dead Men Lie, and Other Poems in 1897 bringing his work to a wider audience. His poems feature Outback settings and many of his best received works incorporate the subject of death. "Where the Dead Men Lie" is one of Australia's most anthologised poems and popularised the term "Never Never" as a nickname for the Outback. Contemporary reviewers of Boake found his work to be inconsistent, but identified elements of brilliance and lamented his early death.