He overcame his addiction and he got a job as a clerk to a timber business. He returned to his family and started writing again. His patron, Sir Henry Parkes, appointed him Inspector of State Forest in 1881 but the demands of the job were a strain on his delicate health and he died at the age of 43. He uses the portrayal of natural scenes, such as streams, gorges and rainforests as a metaphor for the promise of early life. Kendall produced some of the most memorable and vitriolic writing in the decades following the discovery of gold in Australia and some of his work is marked by a sense of alienation.
Bellbirds is one of Australia's best loved poems.
It conjures up the cool, dim blue and green of the Australian mountain country and was first published in a work entitled Leaves from Australian Forests in 1869.