riverguide.jpg

Death of a River Guide by Richard Flanagan, 1994
Cover illustration by Patrick Hall
Penguin edition 1996

Garry Disher Interview

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wyatt.jpg    Garry Disher's new novel, Wyatt, has just been published by Text Publishing. It is the first novel in the Wyatt series since The Fallout in 1997.

He was recently interviewed by Jo Case for "Readings":

Wyatt is 'an old-style hold-up man: cash, jewels, paintings'. He avoids the drug scene and is restricted in what he does by the fact that new technology has outstripped his expertise. Is there a certain appeal in writing an 'old-style' criminal like him? Does this add an extra challenge for you when deciding which situations he'll be embroiled in, and how he'll deal with them?

It's probably beyond my skills to create a loveable drug dealer. The face of crime has changed with drugs. There's a greater chance of viciousness and unpredictability when greed, addiction and huge profit potential are involved. Besides, it's more fun, and somehow more worthy, to show Wyatt holding up a payroll van rather than ripping off an addict or a dealer. The problem for me (and him) is finding ways to get the cash without having to hire a dozen guys with specialist technical know-how and gadgetry, not to mention showing the reader how it all works.

Your books - both the Wyatt and Challis and Destry series - are often very Melbourne in tone. Wyatt evokes a range of city locations, from Frankston's teenage mothers, to dodgy stallholders at the Queen Vic markets, architectural monstrosities in Mount Eliza and young yuppies in Southbank. How important is place to your writing?

Setting should be a vital element of all fiction and it's crucial in crime fiction. From a writing craft point of view, I can't see the characters until I see the ground they walk on, and vice versa. Setting is useful in all kinds of ways: adding to our sense of the characters, creating an appropriate mood (e.g., distress), appealing to our senses (we've all had a bus belch on us), and, more broadly, showing the social as well as the topographical diversity of a region.

Poem: Robbie's Statue by Henry Lawson

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Grown tired of mourning for my sins --
    And brooding over merits --
The other night with bothered brow
   I went amongst the spirits;
And I met one that I knew well:
   "Oh, Scotty's Ghost, is that you?
And did you see the fearsome crowd
   At Robbie Burns's statue?

"They hurried up in hansom cabs,
   Tall-hatted and frock-coated;
They trained it in from all the towns,
   The weird and hairy-throated;
They spoke in some outlandish tongue,
   They cut some comic capers,
And ilka man was wild to get
   His name in all the papers.

"They showed no gleam of intellect,
   Those frauds who rushed before us;
They knew one verse of 'Auld Lang Syne --'
   The first one and the chorus:
They clacked the clack o' Scotlan's Bard,
   They glibly talked of 'Rabby;'
But what if he had come to them
   Without a groat and shabby?

"They drank and wept for Robbie's sake,
   They stood and brayed like asses
(The living bard's a drunken rake,
   The dead one loved the lasses);
If Robbie Burns were here, they'd sit
   As still as any mouse is;
If Robbie Burns should come their way,
   They'd turn him out their houses.

"Oh, weep for bonny Scotland's bard!
   And praise the Scottish nation,
Who made him spy and let him die
   Heart-broken in privation:
Exciseman, so that he might live
   Through northern winters' rigours --
Just as in southern lands they give
   The hard-up rhymer figures.

"We need some songs of stinging fun
   To wake the States and light 'em;
I wish a man like Robert Burns
   Were here to-day to write 'em!
But still the mockery shall survive
   Till the Day o' Judgment crashes --
The men we scorn when we're alive
   With praise insult our ashes."

And Scotty's ghost said: "Never mind
   The fleas that you inherit;
The living bard can flick them off --
   They cannot hurt his spirit.
The crawlers round the bardie's name
   Shall crawl through all the ages;
His work's the living thing, and they
   Are fly-dirt on the pages."

First published in The Bulletin, 23 Februay 1905

Reprint: Australian Literature

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Recently the Melbourne publishing house of Lothian, Limited, offered a prize for the best critical study of Australian literature since the beginning of the century. It was won by Mrs. Nettie Palmer, whose essay has now been printed under the title of "Modern Australian Literature." The term modern is, of course, relative. All Australian literature is technically modern, even the compositions of the illustrious Judge Barron Field and the candid Mr. Barrington. But Mrs. Palmer uses it to define the scope of her inquiry, which covers the period since Federation. There are a few inaccuracies in points of detail. Wrong dates, for example, are assigned to the volumes of plays by the late Adrian Consett Stephen and Mr. Arthur H. Adams. But these do not detract from the value of a comprehensive, discriminating, and sympathetic appreciation of our literary output during the twentieth century. "Concerning matters of taste, there can be no disputation," and, no doubt, many readers will disagree with not a few of her estimates. To some writers she would seem to do more than justice; to others, less. Of Mr. Bernard O'Dowd's "The Bush" we are told that, "taken in its breadth and its great depth, this is a poem so notable that it is hard to look for its fellows in English since 1900." This is a large statement. Notable the poem certainly is, but one would have said that in respect of the qualities predicated, Mr. Thomas Hardy's "Dynasts" ranks higher. Again, there are some rather curious omissions. Dr. L. H. Allen is mentioned only for his "Billy Bubbles," and Mr. J. H. M. Abbott, who has to his credit several capital novels of the old regime, only for his sketches of the South African War. And in the biographical and historical sections, surely Professor G. C. Henderson's "Life of Sir George Grey," and Professor G. Arnold Woods' "Discovery of Australia" deserve a place.

Mrs. Palmer's study makes one realise how greatly our literature has widened in range and increased in volume since the beginning of the century; and it is in the field of poetry that the development has been most striking. Our poetry has emancipated itself from old conventions, and freed itself from the fetters of parochialism in an amazing fashion. Australian poetry has passed through several phases. Originally it was imitative. Our singers saw their own land almost through alien eyes, and modelled themselves more or less successfully on English masters. Even in Kendall, the greatest, there are many echoes. Then they learned to look inward for inspiration, and there arose the "bush-school," racy of the soil, careless of form, rather self-conscious in their determinatlon to be Australian. The Pegasus they bestrode was a stockhorse; their muse the robust divinity who presided over the racecourse, the drovers' camp, and the shearing shed. It is the custom now to sneer at these bush balladlsts, and certainly their work had not that universality of appeal which is the touchstone of the truest poetry. But they served their purpose. They infused Australian poetry with fresh vigour and vitality. They marked an inevitable stage in our poetic growth, and they prepared the way for a new generation with a different impulse. Are we evolving a distinctively Australian literature? With all deference to those who contend that we are, the tendency seems, in poetry at any rate, to be in the opposite direction. Individual writers may seek to interpret the spirit of their land. Mr. Bernard O'Dowd may unfold to us the mystery and magic of the bush; Miss Dorothea Mackellar may address her passionate invocations to her country and draw unforgettable pictures of its beauties. But can it be said that our contemporary poetry as a whole has characteristics which distinguish it as Australian? Much of the most significant work that is being produced has no necessary relation to Australia at all. Many of our best writers know no country. One might search the poetry of Mr. Hugh McCrae, Mr. David McKee Wright, or Professor C J. Brennan - to take three instances at random - in vain for anything of which one could say: "This could only have been written by an Australian."

In her essay Mrs. Palmer observes that our literature "has had to struggle with a stubborn soil." This is a familiar complaint, and it is voiced again by Mr. Hector Dinning in a recent number of the "London Mercury." Mr. Dinning repeats the usual lament. He deplores the lack of encouragement given to local literature by Press and publishers. Chesterton, St John Ervine, and Belloc would starve here - as journalists. Australians show but a scanty appreciation for the work of their fellow-countrymen, save in its more mediocre forms. A taste for the homegrown article should be inculcated, and much in a similar strain. Yet Mr. Dinning himself supplies the explanation of the state of affairs which arouses his ire. Australia has a population of less than six millions. The class which, in older countries, provides an audience for the best in literature, art, and the drama is here so small that it can hardly be said to exist. The average man, whether in Australia or England, is frankly a Philistine. He "knows what he likes," and though his likes may make the elect shudder, he is quite unconcerned. He will read "The Sentimental Bloke" or the novels of Nat Gould with gusto, but the most polished essay, the most poignant lyric will leave him cold. He prefers a less rarified atmosphere. As population grows, the number of persons interested in the first rate will increase; while it remains small, literature will be at a disadvantage. The establishment of an Australian Academy of Letters has been advocated. It might help towards the improvement of standards, but the influence it could exert would be limited. The elevation of popular taste is a slow business, and literature is unresponsive to artificial stimuli. The ages of patronage in literature have never been the greatest. 

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 1924 (editorial)

[Thanks to the National Library of Australia's newspaper digitisation project for this piece.]

I had never really considered Marcus Clarke to be much of a poet until I come across this poem - and, by that, I mean from a point of view of quantity rather than quality, having never encountered any poetry by him previously. The Australian literature resource Austlit lists 129 works by the author but only 9 poems.  Granted not all possible publication sources have been indexed, but the major magazines and newspapers show that Clarke was more a novelist, journalist and playwright than poet.

So we come to Clarke's poem of a day in the life of a restaurant waiter, the first truly urban poem in the collection so far.   

The eponymous waiter is given a hard time by all sections of the tavern's clientele. He is yelled at, abused, and cursed by all as he tells the story of his day.  It comes across as one mad rush oorm one dish to another, from one glass or porter to a "soda and a dash".  He is given little rest.

An interesting aspect of the poem is the glimpse it gives of the eating habits of the people of Melbourne in the 1870s: we see mutton chops and steak along with coffee, toast, flathead (fish), ham and beef for breakfast; and there's oxtail soup, curry, cold boiled beef, irsh stew and pickled cabbage for lunch. The poet doesn't actually detail any dinner-time fare but you get the impression that steak and oinions, pork and greens, and spirit-reared cow-heel might just be on the menu.

By the end of the day the waiter has about had it, contemplating the "hideous Babel" that he encounters in the tavern as his "soul is slowly melting" and his "brain is softening fast".  Does man live only to eat, he wonders.  From his perspective that's all there is: eating, shouting, drinking - like something from a Gordon Ramsay kitchen without the swearing.  Or, at least, without the swearing appearing here.  If he was writing today I doubt whether Clarke, or his editor, would have been so restrained.

Clarke was believed to drink heavily - which may have contributed to his early demise at the age of 35 - so we can be fairly certain that the poem is told from his experiences watching put-upon slave labour going about their work.  It's a form of drudgery, I suspect, still very much in evidence today.

Text: "The Wail of the Waiter" by Marcus Clarke

Author bio: Australian Dictionary of Biography 

marcus_clarke_small.jpg

Publishing history: First published in The Bulletin on 29 September 1900, and subsequently reprinted in Freedom on the Wallaby: Poems of the Australian People (1953), The New Oxford Book of Australian Verse (1986 and 1996), and The Oxford Book of Australian Light Verse (1991).

Next five poems in the book:

"Where the Pelican Builds" by Mary Hannay Foott

"Catching the Coach" by Alfred T. Chandler ("Spinifex")

"Narcissus and Some Tadpoles" by Victor Daley

"Nine Miles from Gundagai" by Jack Moses

"The Duke of Buccleuch" by JA Philp

Note: this post forms part of my series on the poems contained in the anthology 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant.  You can read the other posts in this series here.

2009 Locus Recommended Reading List

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About this time each year Locus, "the magazine of the science fiction and fantasy field", releases its recommended reading list for the previous calendar year.  So, naturally, they have now put out their lists for 2009.

Australian items on the list:

Young Adult Novel
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Collection
A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti
Oceanic by Greg Egan

Anthology - Original
The Dragon Book edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
The New Space Opera 2 edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Eclipse Three edited by Jonathan Strahan

Anthology - Bests
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Three edited by Jonathan Strahan

Novella
"Horn" by Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press)
"Hot Rock" by Greg Egan (Oeanic)
"Wives" by Paul Haines (X6)
"Sea-Hearts" by Margo Lanagan (X6)

Novelette
"The Qualia Engine" by Damien Broderick (Asimov's 8/09)
"The Wind Blowing, and this Tide" by Damien Broderick (Asimov's 4-5/09)
"The Heart of the City" by Garth Nix (Subterranean Summer '09)
"Siren Beat" by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Siren Beat/Roadkill)

Short Story
"On the Destruction of Copenhagen by the War-Machines of the Merfolk" by Peter M. Ball (Strange Horizons 7/6/09)
"In the Lot and in the Air" by Lisa Hannett (Clarkesworld 7/09)
"Ferryman" by Margo Lanagan (Firebirds Soaring)
"Living Curiosities" by Margo Lanagan (Sideshow)

Note: this list has been updated from the original post due to the iformation contained in the comments.

Reprint: Australian Films

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Mr. C. J. Dennis's Views.

Mr. C. J. Dennis, author of "The Sentimental Bloke," spoke yesterday about the prospects of film production being a financial success in Australia. He had just arrived from Melbourne, where the screen version of "The Sentimental Bloke" has been enjoying a singularly successful season.

The basic fact about production in Australia, he said, was that, if enough money had been spent on a film to make it a real success, the Australian market would not be big enough to recoup expenses. The film must be shown abroad. And to have an appeal in other countries it must bring to the screen something that was typically Australian, and therefore new to those other countries. It would be hopeless, for instance, for Australian producers to try and compete with Elstree by dealing with drawing-room comedy. They should look about them and select some characteristic feature of Australian life; then build their stories on that, instead of starting with a story and then trying to adorn it with local colour. The country teemed with subjects. He himself was busy on a scenario based on the timber industry, whose activities he had observed personally in Victoria. The Australian timber-getter was a person very different from the American lumberman, who had figured from time to time on the screen. The great point was that scenarios must be written as a result of personal observation. This was borne in upon him recently when, as literary adviser to the Efftee Film Company, he had examined a thousand scenarios that had been submitted by members of the public. Among the thousand less than 10 deserved a moment's consideration. This did not mean that the Australian writer, as a class, was of low mentality. To expect any standard in the writing of scenarios before there was a practical outlet for this sort of work would be unreasonable. Just now, tried and proved successes like "The Sentimental Bloke" and "On Our Selection" were being done for the screen. He hoped that very soon scenarios written specially for screen purposes would come into favour with producers.

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 1932

[Thanks to the National Library of Australia's newspaper digitisation project for this piece.]

2010 Age Short Story Competition

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I negelected to report on the winners of the 2010 Age Short Story competition earlier this year - partly because I couldn't find the stories on the website and partly because I, well, forgot.

Anway the winners of the competition were:

Winner: "Flat Daddy" by Louise D'Arcy
2nd: "Can't Take the Country Out of the Boy" by Joanne Riccioni
3rd: "The Chinese Lesson" by Ryan O'Neill

Lost Man Booker Prize

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Back in 1970, just two years after the prize was first awarded, the Booker Prize (as it was then known) changed its eligibility criteria.  No longer was it to be awarded retrospectively, but would be judged on works in the year of the prize itself.  Well, actually, from September to September each year.

Anyway, 1970 marks a "lost year" in which a number of books were not eligibile for the prize - falling between the gaps as it were.  The Miles Franklin Award also changed its selection criteria in 1988 but handled that change by not awarding a prize in 1988.  As far as I am aware no novels dropped out of contention as a result.

The Booker Prize people, however, have decided to fix this problem by announcing "The Lost Man Booker Prize" to cater for those novels that were ineligible due to their publication dates.  Three judges have been appointed and a longlist of 22 novels has been announced.  From this longlist, the judges will select a shortlist of 6 novels (the list to be released in March), and the winner will then be determined via a readers' vote on the Man Booker Prize.  That winner will be announced in May of this year.

The longlist of novels for this one-off award is as follows:

Brian Aldiss, The Hand Reared Boy
H.E.Bates, A Little Of What You Fancy?
Nina Bawden, The Birds On The Trees
Melvyn Bragg, A Place In England
Christy Brown, Down All The Days
Len Deighton, Bomber
J.G.Farrell, Troubles
Elaine Feinstein, The Circle
Shirley Hazzard, The Bay Of Noon
Reginald Hill, A Clubbable Woman
Susan Hill, I'm The King Of The Castle
Francis King, A Domestic Animal
Margaret Laurence, The Fire Dwellers
David Lodge, Out Of The Shelter
Iris Murdoch, A Fairly Honourable Defeat
Shiva Naipaul, Fireflies
Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander
Joe Orton, Head To Toe
Mary Renault, Fire From Heaven
Ruth Rendell, A Guilty Thing Surprised
Muriel Spark, The Driver's Seat
Patrick White, The Vivisector

The two Australians on the list are Hazzard and White.

The extra criterion for selection was that the books had to be still in print and generally available today.  I've read a grand total of four of them, which doesn't strike me as very good at all.
baycontentedmen.jpg

The Bay of Contented Men by Robert Drewe, 1991
Jacket illustration: Last Night I Dreamed I Went to Mandalay Again by Vivienne Shark Le Witt, 1985
Picador edition 1991

Film Adaptation of The Eye of the Storm by Patrick White

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It appears that Australian film director Fred Schepisi is attempting to make a film adaptation of Patrick White's novel The Eye of the Storm.  Trouble is he's run into trouble with financing and, according to Peter Craven in "The Age", unless the money is in place soon the delicate balancing act that is film pre-production will all come tumbling down.

This film production had completely slipped past me, as so many do, but I was tempted to run a bit of a search on the director and the proposed film.

Schepisi's IMDb entry doesn't list The Eye of the Storm as being in either development or pre-production. Although, interestingly enough, it does indicate that Schepisi is developing a film version of Grenville's The Secret River, and one other film that doesn't ring any bells.

The Screen Australia website lists two funding entries for the film: one in September 2001, when Jon Hewitt was lined up as director, Jon Hewitt, Anthony Waddington and Belinda McClory as writers and Anthony Waddington as producer;  and the most recent in April 2007 with Schepisi on board as director, Waddington still as producer, and Judy Morris as writer.

Not that the two attempts are a problem, you'd expect this to be a difficult project requiring a fair degree of lead-up work to get it off the ground.  Some of those attempts are just not going to make it.  But Peter Craven obviously doesn't think that the film will be made without direct senior government intervention.  And given the fact that we're now in an election year, I can't see the Federal Government ponying up a few millions to make it happen.  It would just be too easy a target for the Opposition.

I'll keep an eye on developments.

Poem: Those Names by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson

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The shearers sat in the firelight, hearty and hale and strong,
After the hard day's shearing, passing the joke along:
The "ringer" that shore a hundred, as they never were shorn before,
And the novice who, toiling bravely, had tommy-hawked half a score,
The tarboy, the cook, and the slushy, the sweeper that swept the board,
The picker-up, and the penner, with the rest of the shearing horde.
There were men from the inland stations where the skies like a furnace glow,
And men from the Snowy River, the land of the frozen snow;
There were swarthy Queensland drovers who reckoned all land by miles,
And farmers' sons from the Murray, where many a vineyard smiles.
They started at telling stories when they wearied of cards and games,
And to give these stories a flavour they threw in some local names,
And a man from the bleak Monaro, away on the tableland,
He fixed his eyes on the ceiling, and he started to play his hand.

He told them of Adjintoothbong, where the pine-clad mountains freeze,
And the weight of the snow in summer breaks branches off the trees,
And, as he warmed to the business, he let them have it strong --
Nimitybelle, Conargo, Wheeo, Bongongolong;
He lingered over them fondly, because they recalled to mind
A thought of the old bush homestead, and the girl that he left behind.
Then the shearers all sat silent till a man in the corner rose;
Said he, "I've travelled a-plenty but never heard names like those.
Out in the western districts, out on the Castlereagh
Most of the names are easy -- short for a man to say.

"You've heard of Mungrybambone and the Gundabluey pine,
Quobbotha, Girilambone, and Terramungamine,
Quambone, Eunonyhareenyha, Wee Waa, and Buntijo --"
But the rest of the shearers stopped him:  "For the sake of your jaw, go slow,
If you reckon those names are short ones out where such names prevail,
Just try and remember some long ones before you begin the tale."
And the man from the western district, though never a word he said,
Just winked with his dexter eyelid, and then he retired to bed.

First published in The Bulletin, 20 September 1890

Reprint: Australia in London

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It has been suggested that a shop should be established in London for the sale of books by Australian authors. The idea is opportune, and worthy of every support. The time has come for Australia to demonstrate to readers abroad that she has evolved a distinctive national literature. From the earliest days of settlement in this land there were some who sought to give written expression to their thoughts and experiences. At first these were necessarily of British birth, and for the most part they lacked the prescient imagination which might have foreseen the great Australia destined to be. The first of the native-born to achieve note was William Charles Wentworth. He won his garland in England by carrying off second prize for the Chancellor's poetical composition at Cambridge. His subject was "Australasia," and the future great constitution-framer, glimpsed with prophetic vision "A new Britannia in another world." The first absolutely Australian poet was Charles Harpur, born in Windsor, 1817. He possessed the divine instinct, but his work was unequal, and often trivial. He was the forerunner and exemplar of Henry Kendall, who "sat at his feet for long years," and in touching stanzas voiced his gratitude:

   Where Harpur lies the rainy streams,
      And wet hill-heads, with hollows weeping,
   Are swift with wind, and white with gleams,  
      And hoarse with sounds of storms unsleeping. . . .

   But now he sleeps, the tired bard,
      The deepest sleep; and lo, I proffer
   These tender leaves of my regard,

      With hands that falter as they offer.  

Kendall himself had a true lyrical gift, and was particularly adept in symbolising the varying aspects of nature in storm or shine. He had a strenuous and chequered life, suffering "the lot austere which waits upon the man of letters here," and this cast a gloom of depression and sadness over much of his output. Yet he bequeathed many sweet and graceful ballads, while his poem on the opening of the International Exhibition of 1870, with which he won the prize offered by the proprietors of this journal, and which first appeared in these columns, rises to epic grandeur. Largely contemporary with Kendall was Adam Lindsay Gordon. He remains the best known of that generation. For one who reads and treasures the alliterative lyrics of Kendall, several recite with enthusiasm Gordon's galloping "How We Beat the Favourite." To many Australians Gordon is the laureate. But he was of English birth and upbringing, and much of his work, capable and attractive though it be, is rather that of an Englishman domiciled, or exiled, in Australia, than of one who is Australian in every fibre. Marcus Clarke, too, made his mark with one im- mortal work, "For the Term of His Natural Life." Allowing for the exigencies of fiction, in which shadows are deepened, and incidents which in actuality were spread over several fields are concentrated into one, the book is of permanent value as giving a vivid and gripping picture of a condition of things happily long passed away. "Old Boomerang," also (the late J. R. Houlding) in the "Australian Adventures of Christopher Cockle," gave an amusing, yet withal graphic, description of the social life of the roaring "fifties," which should be saved from its threatened oblivion.

In more recent years a new and talented school has arisen which has frankly shaken off the British tradition, and looks at Australian subjects from purely Australian view-points. It shadows forth the "sun-lit plains extended," the rugged dividing ranges, the rushing rivers, the glorious exhilarating air of this vast land. Its favour- ite characters are not the lofty ones, but the strong brave pioneers who hewed their way through dense scrub, cleared the ground for smiling crops, drained swamps, sank shafts, won gold, fought fire and drought and flood, or drove great herds of cattle over a thousand miles and more of almost unexplored territory. A high place must be given to Henry Lawson, whose work is especially representative of this new generation. A. B. Paterson ("Banjo") is a worthy coadjutor, and has a lightness of touch which is complementary to the deeper tone discernible even in the humorous essays of Lawson. T. A. Browne ("Rolf Boldrewood") is likewise worthy of recognition. His novels, founded mainly on incidents of which he had personal knowledge, chronicle phases of Australian development which will never be exactly reproduced. "Robbery Under Arms" is already a classic. Arthur B. Davis ("Steele Rudd") has made thousands smile by his deft description of "Old Dad" and his numerous progeny and retinue, as they struggled to make a living on their successive selections, with interpolated experiences in city life. Both in prose and verse are many worthy of applause whose enumeration space forbids. Without prejudice to those of equal claims may be mentioned Victor Daly, E. J. Brady, the singer of the joys and sorrows of the hardy mariners of our seas, Brunton Stephens, whose "Convict Once" made him famous; George Essex Evans, of "The Secret Key," and the admirable publications in both prose and verse of Ethel Turner, Dorothea Mackellar, Ada Cambridge, Jennings Carmichael, Will Ogilvie, and John le Gay Brereton, not forgetting John Farrell, whose "How He Died" will find a place in every Australian anthology. Special commendation is due to C. J. Dennis, a master of every form of metrical technique, who has created those two impressive and unconventional characters, "The Sentimental Bloke" and "Ginger Mick." We Australians know these writers, who have laid the foundations of our literature; but to the people of Great Britain they are largely unknown. It is our duty to introduce them to readers abroad. That the British public is not insular in its preferences is shown by the remarkable vogue of American fiction, and there is every probability that a demand for Australian literature may also be created. The shop must be established. Whether it is to be at the cost of Government, or of private enterprise, whether alone or as a department of some well established business, has to be decided. But two things are indispensable: it must be staffed with intelligent Australian salesmen, and must carry full lines and advertising material. It will then develop into a meeting place for British and Australians alike, and many who know nothing of Australia will feel the lure of this great land, and through reading our books be inspired to come and dwell amongst us, and become Australians also.

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 April 1920 (editorial)

[Thanks to the National Library of Australia's newspaper digitisation project for this piece.]

With Thomas Spencer's poem, "How McDougal Topped the Score", we move back to comedy; a genre that we only encountered previously with James Brunton Stephens's "My Other Chinee Cook."  And although this poem is not the greatest, or funniest Australian poem, it does come as a bit of light relief.

Comic Australian poems are generally situational in nature, where one person, by dint of luck, good management or just plain rat cunning, gets the better of someone else.   Sometimes it is told from the point of view of the victim - Stephens again - and sometimes from the point of view of the victor.  Spencer's piece is an example of the latter.

The setting is a country cricket match between the two small townships of Piper's Flat and Molongo; the stakes a lunch paid for by the loser. The sub-text being bragging rights between the two towns. Piper's Flat finds themselves a man short and decide to draft in McDougal, an old farmer who has never played the game before.

Needless to say, as you can tell from the title, it is McDougal who saves the day, scoring the 50 runs required for victory with only one wicket to spare; and off one ball as well.  In this case it is rat cunning which wins the day.

When I was reading this poem I was reminded of "The Batting Wizard from the City", a short story by Dal Stivens which also features a cricket match between two small country towns, one of whom is short one player - drafting in a visitor whom no-one seems to know - while the other team has a Demon Bowler given to breaking stumps and bones with equal abandon. As with the poem here, the draftee saves the day at the last minute with a display of batting rarely seen, even in the first-class arena. Here class rather than cunning wins out.  Reading the two together strikes me as being a worthwhile exercise.

I find it peculiar to think that, given the nation's love of sport, such little poetry has been written about it.  This is one of the better ones.

Text: "How McDougal Topped the Score" by Thomas E. Spencer

Author bio: Australian Dictionary of Biography 

Publishing history:  First published in The Bulletin in March 1898, and subsequently reprinted in such anthologies as Favourite Australian Poems (1963), Complete Book of Australian Folklore (1976), The Penguin Book of Australian Humorous Verse (1984), The Illustrated Treasury of Australian Verse (1996), and the 1906 collection shown in its 1972 edition below.

mdougall_small.jpg


Next five poems in the book:

"The Wail of the Waiter" by Marcus Clarke

"Where the Pelican Builds" by Mary Hannay Foott

"Catching the Coach" by Alfred T. Chandler ("Spinifex")

"Narcissus and Some Tadpoles" by Victor Daley

"Nine Miles from Gundagai" by Jack Moses

Note: this post forms part of my series on the poems contained in the anthology 100 Australian Poems You Need to Know edited by Jamie Grant.  You can read the other posts in this series here.

2010 Australia Day Honours List

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As best I can tell, Peter Goldsworthy is the only literature recipient of an honour in the 2010 Australia Day Honours List; he was awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division.

On the other hand I found 6 cricketers, 3 from the wine industry, and 2 from the various football codes.  It continues a rather poor run for Australian literature in these awards.

Forthcoming Books for 2010

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What follows is a list of Australian books to look forward to in 2010.  Fiction entries are marked with "(F)", and poetry with "(P)".  It is, of course, far from complete.

February

Keeping Faith by Robert Averill (F)
Child of the Twilight by Carmel Bird (F)
Our Father Who Wasn't There by David Carlin
Wyatt by Garry Disher (F)
Worst of Days by Karen Kissane
Where Have You Been? by Wendy James (F)
The Keys to the Kingdom, Book 7: Lord Sunday by Garth Nix (F)
The Legacy by Kirsten Tranter (F)
Walking the Tree by Kaaron Warren (F)

March

The Norseman's Song by Joel Deane (F)
Mr Cleansheets by Adrian Deans (F)
Gravel by Peter Goldsworthy (F- short stories)
Trouble: Evolution of a Radical by Kate Jennings
Below the Styx by Malcolm Meehan (F)
The Life of Akmal by Akmal Saleh
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Four edited by Jonathan Strahan (F)

April

Clowns at Midnight by Terry Dowling (F)
In-human by Anna Dusk (F)
The Seond-Last Woman in England by Maggie Joel (F)
Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor (F)
Taller When Prone by Les Murray (P)
Glissando - A Melodrama by David Musgrave (F)
Bleed For Me by Michael Robotham (F)

May

The Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan (F)
Monster Blood Tattoo, Book Three: Factotum by D. M. Cornish (F)
Popeye Never Told You by Rodney Hall
Lights Out in Wonderland by D. B. C. Pierre (F)
Trust by Kate Veitch (F)
Unpeeling Oswald's Onion by David Walker

June

Insinuations by Jack Dann (F)
Gunshot Road by Adrian Hyland (F)
Mistification by Kaaron Warren (F)

July

After America by John Birmingham (F)
Chaos Needs a Theory by Lily Bragge
My Blood's Country by Fiona Capp
Zendegi by Greg Egan (F)
Watch the World Burn by Leah Giarrantano (F)
The Old School by Pamela Hamilton (F)
Utopian Man by Lisa Lang (F)
Down by Pattaya Bay by Angela Savage (F)
King Brown Country by Russell Skelton
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusack (F)

August

Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer (F)
Traitor by Stepehn Daisley (F)
The Body in the Clouds by Ashley Hay (F)
The Dark Wet by Jess Huon (F)
The Life by Malcom Knox (F)
Night Street by Kristell Thornell (F)
Bereft by Chris Womersley (F)

September

Private Life, Public Grief by Mary Delahunty
Lessons in Letting Go by Corinne Grant
Dead Man's Chest by Kerry Greenwood (F)
an untitled novel by Toni Jordan (F)
The Tour by Denise Scott (F)
Line of Sight by David Whish-Wilson (F)

October

an untitled novel by Matthew Condon (F)
Spinner by Ron Elliott (F)
Hunger by Tom Keneally
Love in the Years of Lunacy by Mandy Sayer (F)

November

The Romantic by Kate Holden
Kinglake 350 by Adrian Hyland
Made in Australia by Roger McDonald (F)

Details of the books listed here were taken from "The Age" and "Locus".

Reprint: Victor Daley

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The late Mr. Victor Daley has suffered many things at the hands of his professed admirers. The world has been told by now one and now another of his intímate friends how he dodged bailiffs here and absorbed much liquid refreshment there. Well, the world is not much interested in such revelations, true or false. It declines to associate pootry with beer, and it has a regard for the poet Daley, not for the companion of thirsty souls. We should be glad to hear something more solid about Victor Daley than is to be found in the enthusiastic vapourings of his boon companions, actual or alleged - boon companions who in their thoughtlessness have done harm to the man's memory. Indeed, Daley might complain of those who had done his fame much wrong, drowned his credit in a shallow cup, and sold his reputation for a song. This something may be found in "Victor Daley: A Biographical and Critical Notice," by A. G. Stephens (The "Bulletin" Newspaper Co.). There is no guidance herein as to the place which Victor Daley will or should occupy in the world of poets. Indeed, the time has not come when the place of Victor Daley may be apportioned amongst the minor bards who scintillate in Australia to the applause of their fellows. Certainly it will be amongst the minor bards, even though his latest biographer declares that his verses represent what he calls "a substantial poetical performance." "In essential poetry," continues Mr. Stephens, "in Australian character, and in some of the components of technical quality he has been surpassed often; yet no other in this country has written so agreeably during so long a period."

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, 31 March 1906

[Thanks to the National Library of Australia's newspaper digitisation project for this piece.]

Australian Bookcovers #195 - Grace by Robert Drewe

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grace.jpg

Grace by Robert Drewe, 2005
Cover and text design by Tony Palmer
Cover photography by Michele Oka Doner & Keith Goldstein and Pat O'Hara & Christoph Wilhelm
Viking edition 2005

2009 Aurealis Award Winners

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The 2009 Aurealis Award winners were announced in Brisbane over the weekend.  These jury-judged awards were set up to honour the best Australian sf, fantasy, horror and young adult works.  The winners for 2009 were:

Best Science Fiction Novel

Andrew McGahan, Wonders of a Godless World, Allen & Unwin

Best Science Fiction Short Story
Peter M. Ball, 'Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens', Apex Magazine May 2009

Best Fantasy Novel
Trudi Canavan, Magician's Apprentice, Orbit

Best Fantasy Short Story (joint winners)
Christopher Green, 'Father's Kill', Beneath Ceaseless Skies #24
Ian McHugh, 'Once a Month, On a Sunday', Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd

Best Horror Novel
Honey Brown, Red Queen, Penguin Australia

Best Horror Short Story (joint winners)
Paul Haines, 'Wives', X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing
Paul Haines, 'Slice of Life - A Spot of Liver', Slice of Life, The Mayne Press

Best Anthology
Jonathan Strahan (editor), Eclipse 3, Night Shade Books

Best Collection
Greg Egan, Oceanic, Gollancz

Best Illustrated Book/Graphic Novel

Nathan Jurevicius, Scarygirl, Allen & Unwin

Best Young Adult Novel
Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan Trilogy: Book One, Penguin

Best Young Adult Short Story
Cat Sparks, 'Seventeen', Masques, CSFG

Best Children's Novel
Gabrielle Wang, A Ghost in My Suitcase, Puffin Books

Best Children's Illustrated Work/Picture Book
Pamela Freeman (author), Kim Gamble (illustrator), Victor's Challenge, Walker Books Australia

In addition, the following awards were also announced at the ceremony:

The Peter McNamara Convenors' Award for Excellence went to Melbourne bookseller Justin Ackroyd

The Kris Hembury Encouragement Award for Emerging Artists went to Kathleen Jennings.

You can read the full shortlisted works here.

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