Bill, The Ventriloquial Rooster

Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 Jun 1867 – 2 Sep 1922) was an Australian writer and poet. Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest short story writer". Like the majority of Australians, Lawson lived in a city, but had had plenty of experience in outback life, in fact, many of his stories reflected his experiences in real life. "Bill, the Ventriloquial Rooster" is a sketch story by Australian writer Henry Lawson. The story begins with Mitchell reminiscing about the first time a cousin noticed that Bill the rooster was a ventriloquist. When Mitchell's neighbour, an Irishman named Page, brings home a big white rooster, the two birds become involved in a vicious cock-fight.