Australia was imagined before it was settled, sung about in ballads before the first convicts arrived at Botany Bay, and celebrated by English poets before the books of its own poets started to appear. But the poems of this period, whether popular or literary, bear all the hallmarks of the long 18th century to which they owe their formation, their cult of genres, and their formalities of diction and decorum.

There are two main currents in the poetry written in English in Australia since 1788 when Australia was first settled by the British as a penal colony. One is popular, based on the songs, ballads and sea shanties and simple narratives brought here by convicts and settlers. This is vernacular verse which develops in diverse ways as the century progresses. The other stream is learned and literary, drawing on the whole European cultural heritage, using language that is consciously heightened or refined. These streams are not strict parallels; many of the best Australian poets have tried to merge both in their writing. They have tried to link what is best in popular writing – its vigour, its common touch – with the sophisticated verbal inventiveness and daring, the intellectual exploration of other traditions. Much of the earliest Australian poetry is anonymous, popular and ephemeral: the song, the ballad, the skit and the lampoon predominate. The first poems published in book form were extended odes and narratives that expressed a sense of confidence in the progress of British civilisation and the future glory of Australia.