93-643: The Association for the Study of Australian Literature ( ASAL ) is an Australian organisation which promotes the creation and study of Australian literature and literary culture especially through the interaction of Australian writers with teachers and students. It administers several awards, holds a yearly conference, publishes a newsletter and journal, and has sponsored several publications. The Australian Literature Society, which had been formed in Melbourne in 1899, merged into ASAL which, since 1982, has administered
186-537: A World Fantasy Award for Best Artist , and a Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist . A generation of leading contemporary international writers who left Australia for Britain and the United States in the 1960s have remained regular and passionate contributors of Australian themed literary works throughout their careers including: Clive James , Robert Hughes , Barry Humphries , Geoffrey Robertson and Germaine Greer . Several of these writers had links to
279-641: A "neglect of Australian literature" by universities and "British dominated" publishing houses—citing out of print Miles Franklin award winners such as David Ireland 's The Glass Canoe and Sumner Locke Elliott 's Careful, He Might Hear You as key examples. Ethel Turner 's Seven Little Australians , which relates the adventures of seven mischievous children in Sydney, has been in print since 1894, longer than any other Australian children's novel. The Getting of Wisdom (1910) by Henry Handel Richardson , about an unconventional schoolgirl in Melbourne, has enjoyed
372-837: A Particular Enumeration of the Advantages Which These Colonies Offer for Emigration and Their Superiority in Many Respects Over Those Possessed by the United States of America , in which he advocated an elected assembly for New South Wales, trial by jury and settlement of Australia by free emigrants rather than convicts The first novel to be published in Australia was a crime novel, Quintus Servinton: A Tale founded upon Incidents of Real Occurrence by Henry Savery published in Hobart in 1830. Early popular works tended to be
465-516: A Sydney high school girl Looking for Alibrandi . Robin Klein 's Came Back to Show You I Could Fly is a story about the beautiful relationship between an eleven-year-old boy and an older, drug-addicted girl. Jackie French , widely described as Australia's most popular children's author, has written about 170 books, including two CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award winners. One of them,
558-633: A better deal for the Indigenous Australians . In 1925 the Society of Women Writers was formed and Florence Baverstock was the inaugural President. Her four vice-presidents who founded the society were Gilmore, Pattie Fotheringhame , Isobel Gullett and Mary Liddell and the aim was to encourage other women writers. By 1931, Gilmore's views had become too radical for the AWU, but she soon found other outlets for her writing. She later wrote
651-625: A bulletin, Notes and Furphies . The bulletin was merged with ASAL's publication of conference proceedings to form the Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature . ASAL initiated the ASAL Literary Studies Series of specialist monographs on Australian writing. The following volumes have appeared: Other publications ASAL has sponsored are: Australian literature Australian literature
744-427: A campaigner for the welfare of the disadvantaged. Gilmore's first volume of poetry was brought out in 1910; she published prolifically for the rest of her life, mainly poetry but also memoirs and collections of essays. She wrote on a variety of themes, although the public imagination was particularly captured by her evocative views of country life. Her best known work is " No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest ", which served as
837-695: A collection of interlinked semi-autobiographical short stories, explores the authentic experiences of working-class Australians in the suburbs, including issues such as drug addiction and a sense of disillusionment. Australia has migrant groups from many countries, and members of those communities (not always of the first generation) have produced Australian writing in a variety of languages. These include Italian , Greek , Arabic , Chinese , Vietnamese , Lao , Filipino , Latvian , Ukrainian , Polish , Russian , Serbian , Yiddish and Irish . Comparatively little attention has been devoted to such writing by mainstream critics. It has been argued that, in relation to
930-414: A conservative, wealthy Anglo-Australian family, he later wrote of conviction in left-wing causes and lived as a homosexual. Never destined for life on the land, he enrolled at Cambridge where he became a published poet. White developed as a novelist, but also had major theatrical success—including The Season at Sarsaparilla . White followed The Tree of Man with Voss , which became the first winner of
1023-449: A general flightiness. Romantic love is seldom, as instant gratification has become the norm. It has been described as both a sub-set of dirty realism and an offshoot of Generation X literature. The term "grunge" is from the 1990s-era music genre of grunge . The genre was first coined in 1995 following the success of Andrew McGahan 's first novel Praise which had been released in 1991 and became popular with sub-30-year-old readers,
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#17327938187201116-415: A morale booster during World War II. Gilmore's greatest recognition came in later life. She was the doyenne of the Sydney literary world, and became something of a national icon, making frequent appearances in the new media of radio and television. Gilmore maintained her prodigious output into old age, publishing her last book of verse in 1954, aged 89. Two years earlier she had begun writing a new column for
1209-407: A national literary icon. Before 1940, she published six volumes of verse and three editions of prose. After the war, Gilmore published volumes of memoirs and reminiscences of colonial Australia and the literary giants of 1890s Sydney, thus contributing much material to the mythologising of that period. Dame Mary Gilmore died in 1962, aged 97, and was accorded the first state funeral for a writer since
1302-598: A number of historical works on Australia (including The Art of Australia (1966) and The Fatal Shore (1987)). Barry Humphries took his dadaist absurdist theatrical talents and pen to London in the 1960s, becoming an institution on British television and later attaining popularity in the USA. Humphries' outlandish Australian caricatures, including Dame Edna Everage , Barry McKenzie and Les Patterson have starred in books, stage and screen to great acclaim over five decades and his biographer Anne Pender described him in 2010 as
1395-707: A place for herself as a female writer in Australia, fictionalising this experience in My Brilliant Career (1901). Marie Bjelke Petersen 's popular romance novels, published between 1917 and 1937, offered a fresh upbeat interpretation of the Australian bush. The central character in Patrick White 's The Twyborn Affair tries to conform to expectations of pre–World War II Australian masculinity but cannot, and instead, post-war, tries out another identity—and gender—overseas. Peter Carey has toyed with
1488-508: A position as a teacher at Wagga Wagga Public School, where she worked until December 1885. After a short teaching spell at Illabo she took up a teaching position at Silverton near the mining town of Broken Hill . There Gilmore developed her socialist views and began writing poetry. In 1890, she moved to Sydney, where she became part of the Bulletin School , centered around the radical nationalist journal The Bulletin . Although
1581-562: A previously under-investigated demographic . Other authors considered to be "grunge lit" include Linda Jaivin , Fiona McGregor and Justine Ettler . Since its invention, the term "grunge lit" has been retrospectively applied to novels written as early as 1977, namely Helen Garner 's Monkey Grip . Grunge lit is often raw, explicit, and vulgar, even to the point of Ettler's The River Ophelia (1995) being called pornographic. The term "grunge lit" and its use to categorize and market this diverse group of writers and authorial styles has been
1674-754: A regular column for the Communist Party 's newspaper Tribune , although she was never a party member herself. In spite of her somewhat controversial politics, Gilmore accepted appointment as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1937, becoming Dame Mary Gilmore. She was the first person to be granted the award for services to literature. During World War II , she wrote stirring patriotic verse such as No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest . In her later years, Gilmore, separated from her husband, moved to Sydney, and enjoyed her growing status as
1767-522: A shearer in Argentina and Mary and her two-year-old son Billy soon followed, living separately in Buenos Aires for about six months, and then the family moved to Patagonia until they saved enough for a return passage, via England, in 1902 to Australia, where they took up farming near Casterton, Victoria . Gilmore's first volume of poetry was published in 1910, and for the ensuing half-century she
1860-503: A similar success and been praised by H. G. Wells and Germaine Greer . Other perennial favourites of Australian children's literature include Dorothy Wall 's Blinky Bill , Ethel Pedley 's Dot and the Kangaroo , May Gibbs ' Snugglepot and Cuddlepie , Norman Lindsay 's The Magic Pudding , Ruth Park 's The Muddleheaded Wombat and Mem Fox 's Possum Magic . These classic works employ anthropomorphism to bring alive
1953-468: A single mother living on and off with a male heroin addict in Melbourne share housing. Mary Gilmore Dame Mary Jean Gilmore DBE (née Cameron ; 16 August 1865 – 3 December 1962) was an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and the broader national discourse. She wrote both prose and poetry. Gilmore was born in rural New South Wales , and spent her childhood in and around
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#17327938187202046-416: A small proportion of Australia's population have lived outside the major cities, many of Australia's most distinctive stories and legends originate in the outback , in the drovers and squatters and people of the barren, dusty plains. David Unaipon is known as the first Aboriginal author. Oodgeroo Noonuccal was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse. A ground-breaking memoir about
2139-529: Is a Gothic romance. Miles Franklin ( My Brilliant Career ) and Jeannie Gunn ( We of the Never Never ) wrote of lives of European pioneers in the Australian bush from a female perspective. Albert Facey wrote of the experiences of the Goldfields and of Gallipoli ( A Fortunate Life ). Ruth Park wrote of the sectarian divisions of life in impoverished 1940s inner city Sydney ( The Harp in
2232-484: Is a popular and influential work on early Australian history. Marcia Langton is one of the principal contemporary Indigenous Australian academics and her 2008 collaboration with Rachel Perkins chronicles Australian history from an Indigenous perspective: First Australians. An Illustrated History . A complicated, multi-faceted relationship to Australia is displayed in much Australian writing, often through writing about landscape. Barbara Baynton 's short stories from
2325-482: Is an Australian literary genre usually applied to fictional or semi-autobiographical writing concerned with dissatisfied and disenfranchised young people living in suburban or inner-city surroundings. It was typically written by "new, young authors" who examined "gritty, dirty, real existences", of lower-income young people, whose lives revolve around a nihilistic pursuit of casual sex , recreational drug use and alcohol , which are used to escape boredom or
2418-532: Is an historical fiction by Kate Grenville imagining encounters between Aboriginal and colonial Australia which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The Slap (2008) was an internationally successful novel by Christos Tsiolkas which was adapted for television by ABC1 in 2011, and was described in a review by Gerard Windsor as "something of an anatomy of the rising Australian middle class". Grunge lit (an abbreviation for "grunge literature")
2511-474: Is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature . However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced
2604-553: The Tribune (the official newspaper of the Communist Party ), which she continued for almost a decade. Gilmore died at the age of 97 and was accorded a state funeral , a rare honour for a writer. She has featured on the reverse of the Australian ten-dollar note since 1993. Mary Jean Cameron was born on 16 August 1865 at the small settlement of Cotta Walla (modern-day Roslyn ), just outside Crookwell, New South Wales . When she
2697-652: The ALS Gold Medal . In addition, ASAL administers the following awards: In May 1978, writer and academic Mary Lord organized the inaugural ASAL conference at Monash University . At this conference, the Association adopted its constitution and appointed A.D. Hope and Judith Wright as patrons. ASAL has conferred life membership upon Clem Christesen , Mary Lord , Judith Wright , Thea Astley , Peter Cowan , Rosemary Dobson , Gwen Harwood , Eric Irvin , Ken Stewart , Julian Croft , and Ian McLaren . From October 1978 until October 2000, ASAL published 43 issues of
2790-621: The Australian Parliament . AustLit 's BlackWords project provides a comprehensive listing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writers and Storytellers. Writing about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples At the point of the first colonization, Indigenous Australians had not developed a system of writing, so the first literary accounts of Aboriginal people come from the journals of early European explorers, which contain descriptions of first contact, both violent and friendly. Early accounts by Dutch explorers and by
2883-659: The Miles Franklin Award . A subsequent novel, Riders in the Chariot also received a Miles Franklin award—but White later refused to permit his novels to be entered for literary prizes. He turned down a knighthood, and various literary awards—but in 1973 accepted the Nobel prize. David Marr wrote of biography of White in 1991. J. M. Coetzee , who was born in South Africa and was resident there when awarded
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2976-512: The New Australia Colony . She started a family there, but the colony did not live up to expectations and they returned to Australia in 1902. Drawing on her connections in Sydney, Gilmore found work with The Australian Worker as the editor of its women's section, a position she held from 1908 to 1931. She also wrote for a variety of other publications, including The Bulletin and The Sydney Morning Herald , becoming known as
3069-581: The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003, now lives in Adelaide, South Australia, and is an Australian citizen. Colleen McCullough 's The Thorn Birds , 1977, is Australia's highest selling novel and one of the biggest selling novels of all time with around 30 million copies sold by 2009. Thomas Keneally wrote The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith , 1972 and Schindler's Ark , 1982. This latter work
3162-542: The Riverina , living both in small bush settlements and in larger country towns like Wagga Wagga . Gilmore qualified as a schoolteacher at the age of 16, and after a period in the country was posted to Sydney . She involved herself with the burgeoning labour movement and the Bulletin School of radical nationalists, and she also became a devotee of the utopian socialist views of William Lane . In 1893, Gilmore and 200 others followed Lane to Paraguay , where they formed
3255-694: The Silver Brumby series, a collection by Elyne Mitchell which recount the life and adventures of Thowra, a Snowy Mountains brumby stallion ; Storm Boy (1964), by Colin Thiele, about a boy and his pelican and the relationships he has with his father, the pelican, and an outcast Aboriginal man called Fingerbone; the Sydney-based Victorian era time travel adventure Playing Beatie Bow (1980) by Ruth Park ; and, for older children and mature readers, Melina Marchetta 's 1993 novel about
3348-607: The Sydney Push intellectual sub-culture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s; and to Oz , a satirical magazine originating in Sydney, and later produced in London (from 1967 to 1973). After a long media career, Clive James remained a leading humourist and author based in Britain whose memoir series was rich in reflections on Australian society (including his 2007 book Cultural Amnesia ). Robert Hughes has produced
3441-402: The vernacular language of the common Australian. These novelists also gave valuable insights into the penal colonies which helped form the country and also the early rural settlements. In 1838 The Guardian: a tale by Anna Maria Bunn was published in Sydney. It was the first Australian novel printed and published in mainland Australia and the first Australian novel written by a woman. It
3534-481: The "otherwise solitary bush" in which men would often "stand by one another through thick and thin; in fact it is a universal feeling that a man ought to be able to trust his own mate in anything". Henry Lawson , a son of the Goldfields wrote extensively of an egalitarian mateship, in such works as A Sketch of Mateship and Shearers , in which he wrote: What it means to be Australian is another issue that Australian literature explores. Miles Franklin struggled to find
3627-483: The 'ripping yarn' variety, telling tales of derring-do against the new frontier of the Australian outback . Writers such as Rolf Boldrewood ( Robbery Under Arms ), Marcus Clarke ( For the Term of His Natural Life ), Henry Handel Richardson ( The Fortunes of Richard Mahony ) and Joseph Furphy ( Such Is Life ) embodied these stirring ideals in their tales and, particularly the latter, tried to accurately record
3720-701: The 1990s Australian literary genre known as grunge lit . Michael Robert Christie's 2009 PhD dissertation, "Unbecoming-of-Age: Australian Grunge Fiction, the Bildungsroman and the Long Labor Decade" states that there is a genre called "post Grunge [lit]" which follows the grunge lit period. Christie names three examples of Australian "post-grunge lit": Elliot Perlman 's Three Dollars (1998), Andrew McCann 's Subtopia (2005) and Anthony Macris ' Capital . Christie's dissertation interprets and explains these three post-grunge lit works "as responses to
3813-686: The 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and Shaun Tan , who won in 2011. Hartnett has a long and distinguished career, publishing her first novel at 15. She is known for her dark and often controversial themes. She has won several awards, including the Kathleen Mitchell Award and the Victorian Premier's Award for Sleeping Dogs , Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Aurealis Award, Best Young Adult Novel (Australian speculative fiction) for Thursday's Child and
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3906-480: The 21st century include Kim Scott , Alexis Wright , Kate Howarth , Tara June Winch , Yvette Holt and Anita Heiss . Indigenous authors who have won Australia's high prestige Miles Franklin Award include Kim Scott who was joint winner (with Thea Astley ) in 2000 for Benang and again in 2011 for That Deadman Dance . Alexis Wright won the award in 2007 for her novel Carpentaria . Melissa Lucashenko won
3999-556: The Australian landscape. In 1971, Southall won the Carnegie Medal for Josh . In 1986, Patricia Wrightson received the international Hans Christian Andersen Award . The Children's Book Council of Australia has presented annual awards for books of literary merit since 1946 and has other awards for outstanding contributions to Australian children's literature. Notable winners and shortlisted works have inspired several well-known Australian films from original novels, including
4092-604: The Booker Prize in 2003. Other notable writers to have emerged since the 1970s include Kate Grenville , David Malouf , Helen Garner , Janette Turner Hospital , Marion Halligan , Susan Johnson , Christopher Koch , Alex Miller , Shirley Hazzard , Richard Flanagan , Gerald Murnane , Brenda Walker , Rod Jones and Tim Winton . James Clavell in The Asian Saga discusses an important feature of Australian literature: its portrayal of far eastern culture , from
4185-802: The CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers for Forest . Tan won this for his career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense". Tan has been awarded various literary awards, including the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 2009 for Tales from Outer Suburbia and a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books award in 2007 for The Arrival . Alongside his numerous literary awards, Tan's adaption of his book The Lost Thing also won him an Oscar for best animated short film. Other awards Tan has won include
4278-570: The English buccaneer William Dampier wrote of the "natives of New Holland " as being "barbarous savages", but by the time of Captain James Cook and First Fleet marine Watkin Tench (the era of Jean-Jacques Rousseau ), accounts of Aborigines were more sympathetic and romantic: "these people may truly be said to be in the pure state of nature, and may appear to some to be the most wretched upon
4371-676: The Expedition to Botany Bay et Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson); Roderick J. Flanagan ( The Aborigines of Australia , 1888); The Native Tribes of Central Australia by Spencer and Gillen, 1899; the diaries of Donald Thomson on the subject of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land (c.1935-1943); Alan Moorehead ( The fatal Impact , 1966); Geoffrey Blainey ( Triumph of the Nomads , 1975); Henry Reynolds ( The Other Side of
4464-701: The Frontier , 1981); and Marcia Langton (First Australians, 2008). Differing interpretations of Aboriginal history are also the subject of contemporary debate in Australia, notably between the essayists Robert Manne and Keith Windschuttle . For centuries before the British settlement of Australia, European writers wrote fictional accounts of an imagining of a Great Southern Land . In 1642 Abel Janszoon Tasman landed in Tasmania and after examining notches cut at considerable distances on tree trunks, speculated that
4557-604: The South ). In terms of children's literature, Norman Lindsay ( The Magic Pudding ), Mem Fox ( Possum Magic ), and May Gibbs ( Snugglepot and Cuddlepie ) are among the Australian classics, while Melina Marchetta ( Looking for Alibrandi ) is a modern YA classic. Eminent Australian playwrights have included Ray Lawler , David Williamson , Alan Seymour and Nick Enright . Among prominent short story writers are Steele Rudd , Henry Lawson , Beverley Farmer , Kate Grenville , and Helen Garner . Although historically only
4650-510: The South ). The experience of Australian PoWs in the Pacific War is recounted by Nevil Shute in A Town Like Alice and in the autobiography of Sir Edward Dunlop . Alan Moorehead was an Australian war correspondent and novelist who gained international acclaim. A number of notable classic works by international writers deal with Australian subjects, among them D. H. Lawrence 's Kangaroo . The journals of Charles Darwin contain
4743-602: The War of 1939–1945 is a 22-volume official history dedicated to Australia's Second World War efforts. the series was published by the Australian War Memorial between 1952 and 1977. The main editor was Gavin Long . A significant milestone was the historian Manning Clark 's six-volume History of Australia , which is regarded by some as the definitive account of the nation. Clark had a talent for narrative prose and
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#17327938187204836-509: The Year Award for picture books. Paul Jennings is a prolific writer of contemporary Australian fiction for young people whose career began with collections of short stories such as Unreal! (1985) and Unbelievable! (1987); many of the stories were adapted as episodes of the award-winning television show Round the Twist . The world's richest prize in children's literature has been received by two Australians, Sonya Hartnett , who won
4929-415: The admittedly even further east, but nevertheless western cultural viewpoint, as Nevil Shute did. Clavell was also a successful screenwriter and along with such writers as Thomas Keneally (see above), has expanded the topics of Australian literature far beyond that one country. Other novelists to use international themes are David Malouf , Beverley Farmer and Rod Jones . The Secret River (2005)
5022-722: The antagonist Banksia men . Gibbs' influence has lasted through the generations – contemporary children's author Ursula Dubosarsky has cited Snugglepot and Cuddlepie as one of her favourite books. In the middle of the twentieth century, children's literature languished, with popular British authors dominating the Australian market. But in the 1960s Oxford University Press published several Australian children's authors, and Angus & Robertson appointed their first specialist children's editor. The best-known writers to emerge in this period were Hesba Brinsmead , Ivan Southall , Colin Thiele , Patricia Wrightson , Nan Chauncy , Joan Phipson and Eleanor Spence , their works primarily set in
5115-459: The award in 2019 for her novel Too Much Lip , which was also short-listed for the Stella Prize for Australian women's writing. Letters written by notable Aboriginal leaders like Bennelong and Sir Douglas Nicholls are also retained as treasures of Australian literature, as is the historic Yirrkala bark petitions of 1963 which is the first traditional Aboriginal document recognised by
5208-449: The best known contemporary poets are Les Murray and Bruce Dawe , whose poems are often studied in Australian high schools. Novelists of classic Australian works include Marcus Clarke ( For the Term of His Natural Life ), Miles Franklin ( My Brilliant Career ), Henry Handel Richardson ( The Fortunes of Richard Mahony ), Joseph Furphy ( Such Is Life ), Rolf Boldrewood ( Robbery Under Arms ) and Ruth Park ( The Harp in
5301-700: The character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality , mateship , egalitarianism , democracy , national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and " the beauty and the terror " of life in the Australian bush . Australian writers who have obtained international renown include the Nobel-winning author Patrick White , as well as authors Christina Stead , David Malouf , Peter Carey , Bradley Trevor Greive , Thomas Keneally , Colleen McCullough , Nevil Shute and Morris West . Notable contemporary expatriate authors include
5394-448: The copy-protection microprint, the text of the poem itself. The background of the illustration features a portrait of Gilmore by the well-known Australian artist Sir William Dobell . She was the great-great aunt of politician and later prime minister Scott Morrison , who in 2012, on the 50th anniversary of her death, delivered a tribute to her in federal parliament. In September 2019, Gilmore's poem, " No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest "
5487-465: The creatures of the Australian bush , thus Bunyip Bluegum of The Magic Pudding is a koala who leaves his tree in search of adventure, while in Dot and the Kangaroo a little girl lost in the bush is befriended by a group of marsupials . May Gibbs crafted a story of protagonists modelled on the appearance of young eucalyptus (gum tree) nuts and pitted these gumnut babies , Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, against
5580-474: The critically acclaimed Hitler's Daughter (1999), is a "what if?" story that explores mind-provoking issues about what would have happened if Adolf Hitler had had a daughter. French is also the author of the highly praised Diary of a Wombat (2003), which won awards such as the 2003 COOL Award and 2004 BILBY Award , among others. It was also named an honour book for the CBCA Children's Book of
5673-535: The death of Henry Lawson in 1922. Dobell's 1957 portrait of Dame Mary Gilmore was a finalist in that year's Archibald Prize , and can be seen in the Art Gallery of NSW . In 1973 she was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post . A park in West Pennant Hills, Sydney is named in her honour. The park hosts a large flag pole and Australian flag with the location historically being
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#17327938187205766-489: The earth; but in reality they are far happier than ... we Europeans", wrote Cook in his journal on 23 August 1770. Many notable works have been written by non-indigenous Australians on Aboriginal themes. Examples include the poems of Judith Wright ; The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally , Ilbarana by Donald Stuart , and the short story by David Malouf : "The Only Speaker of his Tongue". Histories covering Indigenous themes include Watkin Tench (Narrative of
5859-406: The embedding of Neoliberalism in Australian and global political culture". Kalinda Ashton (born 1978) has been called a post-grunge writer, in part due to influences from grunge lit author Christos Tsiolkas . Ashton is the author of the novel The Danger Game . Samantha Dagg's 2017 thesis on grunge lit and post-grunge lit states that Luke Carman is a post-grunge writer. Carman's first work,
5952-545: The experiences of the Stolen Generations can be found in Sally Morgan 's My Place . Charles Bean , Geoffrey Blainey , Robert Hughes , Manning Clark , Claire Wright , and Marcia Langton are authors of important Australian histories. Writing by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people While his father, James Unaipon (c.1835-1907), contributed to accounts of Aboriginal mythology written by
6045-526: The famous naturalist's first impressions of Australia, gained on his tour aboard the Beagle that inspired his writing of On the Origin of Species . The Wayward Tourist: Mark Twain's Adventures in Australia contains the acclaimed American humourist's musings on Australia from his 1895 lecture tour. In 2012, The Age reported that Text Publishing was releasing an Australian classics series in 2012, to address
6138-486: The feminist Germaine Greer , art historian Robert Hughes and humorists Barry Humphries and Clive James . Among the important authors of classic Australian works are the poets Henry Lawson , Banjo Paterson , C. J. Dennis and Dorothea Mackellar . Dennis wrote in the Australian vernacular, while Mackellar wrote the iconic patriotic poem My Country . Lawson and Paterson clashed in the famous " Bulletin Debate " over
6231-578: The first Australian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973 "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature". White's first novel , Happy Valley (1939) was inspired by the landscape and his work as a jackaroo on the land at Adaminaby in the Snowy Mountains, but became an international success and won the Australian Literary Society's gold medal. Born to
6324-547: The first Chinese-language novel to be published in Australia (and possibly the West), The Poison of Polygamy (1909–10) by Wong Shee Ping , was published in English for the first time in 2019, in a bilingual parallel edition. History has been an important discipline in the development of Australian writing. Watkin Tench (1758–1833) - a British officer who arrived with the First Fleet in 1788 - later published two books on
6417-565: The first true works of literature produced in Australia were the accounts of the settlement of Sydney by Watkin Tench , a captain of the marines on the First Fleet to arrive in 1788. In 1819, poet, explorer, journalist and politician William Wentworth published the first book written by an Australian: A Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales and Its Dependent Settlements in Van Diemen's Land, With
6510-459: The greatest influence on her work was Henry Lawson , it was Alfred "A. G." Stephens , literary editor of The Bulletin , who published her verse and established her reputation as a fiery radical poet, champion of the workers and the oppressed. She had a relationship with Henry Lawson that probably began in 1890. She writes of an unofficial engagement and Lawson's wish to marry her, but it was broken by his frequent absences from Sydney. The story of
6603-518: The idea of a national Australian identity as a series of 'beautiful lies', and this is a recurrent theme in his novels. Andrew McGahan 's Praise (1992), Christos Tsiolkas 's Loaded (1995), Justine Ettler 's The River Ophelia (1995) and Brendan Cowell 's How It Feels (2010) introduced a grunge lit , a type of 'gritty realism' take on questions of Australian identity in the 1990s, though an important precursor to such work came some years earlier with Helen Garner 's Monkey Grip (1977), about
6696-521: The late 19th century/early 20th century convey people living in the bush, a landscape that is alive but also threatening and alienating. Kenneth Cook 's Wake in Fright (1961) portrayed the outback as a nightmare with a blazing sun, from which there is no escape. Colin Thiele 's novels reflected the life and times of rural and regional Australians in the 20th century, showing aspects of Australian life unknown to many city dwellers. In Australian literature,
6789-645: The location of a signal flag for communication between the early settlements of Parramatta and Windsor. The Canberra suburb of Gilmore , the state highway Mary Gilmore Way (which runs east north east from Barmedman to Grenfell), a federal electorate, the Division of Gilmore and Gilmore Crescent in the Canberra suburb of Garran are named in her honour. Gilmore's image appears on the third series Australian $ 10 note (since 2017), along with an illustration inspired by "No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest" and, as part of
6882-498: The missionary George Taplin, David Unaipon (1872–1967) provided the first accounts of Aboriginal mythology written by an Aboriginal: Legendary Tales of the Aborigines . For this he is known as the first Aboriginal author. Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920–1993) was a famous Aboriginal poet, writer and rights activist credited with publishing the first Aboriginal book of verse: We Are Going (1964). Sally Morgan 's novel My Place
6975-855: The most significant comedian since Charles Chaplin . His own literary works include the Dame Edna biographies My Gorgeous Life (1989) and Handling Edna (2010) and the autobiography My Life As Me: A Memoir (2002). Geoffrey Robertson KC is a leading international human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster whose books include The Justice Game (1998) and Crimes Against Humanity (1999). Leading feminist Germaine Greer, author of The Female Eunuch , has spent much of her career in England but continues to study, critique, condemn and adore her homeland (recent work includes Whitefella Jump Up: The Shortest Way to Nationhood , 2004). Martin Boyd (1893–1972)
7068-645: The national literary landscape, such literary communities have a quite separate existence, with their own poetry festivals, literary competitions, magazine and newspaper reviews and features, and even local publishers. Some writers, like the Greek Australian Dimitris Tsaloumas , have published bilingually. There are now signs that such writing is attracting more academic interest. Some older works in languages other than English have been translated and received critical and historical attention long after their first publication; for example,
7161-463: The nature of life in Australia with Lawson considered to have the harder edged view of the Bush and Paterson the romantic. Lawson is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest writers of short stories, while Paterson's poems remain amongst the most popular Australian bush poems. Significant poets of the 20th century included Dame Mary Gilmore , Kenneth Slessor , A. D. Hope and Judith Wright . Among
7254-660: The newly discovered country must be peopled by giants. Later, the British satirist, Jonathan Swift , set the land of the Houyhnhnms of Gulliver's Travels to the west of Tasmania. In 1797 the British Romantic poet Robert Southey —then a young Jacobin —included a section in his collection, "Poems", a selection of poems under the heading, "Botany Bay Eclogues," in which he portrayed the plight and stories of transported convicts in New South Wales . Among
7347-606: The next 10 years. This itinerant existence allowed Mary only a spasmodic formal education; however, she did receive some on their frequent returns to Wagga, either staying with the Beatties or in rented houses. Her father purchased land and built his own house at Brucedale on the Junee Road, where they had a permanent home. She was then to attend, albeit briefly, Colin Pentland's private Academy at North Wagga Wagga and, when
7440-404: The relationship is told in the play "All My Love", written by Anne Brooksbank . She followed William Lane and other socialist idealists to Paraguay in 1896, where they had established a communal settlement called New Australia two years earlier. At Lane's breakaway settlement Cosme she married William Gilmore in 1897. By 1900 the socialist experiment had clearly failed. Will left to work as
7533-435: The school closed, transferred to Wagga Wagga Public School for two and a half years. At 14, in preparation to become a teacher, she worked as an assistant at her uncle's school at Yerong Creek . Another uncle, Charles White (1845–1922), was a journalist and author of books on bushrangers , while an aunt, Jeannie Lockett (née Jane Beattie) was a teacher and writer. After completing her teaching exams in 1882, she accepted
7626-632: The subject of a 1983 Australian film . Author David Ireland won the Miles Franklin Award three times, including for The Glass Canoe (1976). Peter Carey has also won the Miles Franklin Award three times ( Jack Maggs 1998; Oscar and Lucinda 1989; and Bliss 1981). He has twice won the Booker Prize with 1988's Oscar and Lucinda and 2001's True History of the Kelly Gang . DBC Pierre 's Vernon God Little won
7719-465: The subject of debate and criticism. Linda Jaivin disagreed with putting all these authors in one category, Christios Tsiolkas called the term a "media creation", and Murray Waldren denied grunge lit even was a new genre; he said the works actually are a type of the pre-existing dirty realism genre. Post-grunge lit is a genre of Australian fiction from the late 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. It is called "post-grunge lit" to denote that this genre appeared after
7812-471: The subject of the foundations of New South Wales: Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson . Written with a spirit of humanity his accounts are considered by writers including Robert Hughes and Thomas Keneally to be essential reading for the early history of Australia/ Charles Bean was the official war historian of the First World War and
7905-430: The term mateship has often been employed to denote an intensely loyal relationship of shared experience, mutual respect and unconditional assistance existing between friends ( mates ) in Australia. This relationship of (often male) loyalty has remained a central subject of Australian literature from colonial times to the present day. In 1847, Alexander Harris wrote of habits of mutual helpfulness between mates arising in
7998-483: The work (published between 1969 and 1987) remains a popular and influential work. Clark's one time student Geoffrey Blainey stands as another to have deeply influenced Australian historiography. His important works include The Tyranny of Distance (1966) and Triumph of the Nomads: A History of Ancient Australia (1975). Robert Hughes ' much-debated history The Fatal Shore: The epic of Australia's founding (1987)
8091-449: Was a distinguished memoirist, novelist and poet, whose works included social comedies and the serious reflections of a pacifist faced with a time of war. Among his Langton series of novels— The Cardboard Crown (1952), A Difficult Young Man (1955), Outbreak of Love (1957)—earned high praise in Britain and the United States, though despite their Australian themes, were largely ignored in Australia. Patrick White (1912–1990) became
8184-561: Was considered a breakthrough memoir in terms of bringing indigenous stories to wider notice. Leading Aboriginal activists Marcia Langton ( First Australians , 2008) and Noel Pearson ( Up from the Mission , 2009) are active contemporary contributors to Australian literature. The voices of Indigenous Australians are being increasingly recognised and include the playwright Jack Davis and Kevin Gilbert . Writers coming to prominence in
8277-675: Was influential in establishing the importance of ANZAC in Australian history and mythology, with such prose as "Anzac stood, and still stands, for reckless valor in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance, that will never own defeat". (see works including The Story of ANZAC: From the Outbreak of War to the End of the First Phase of the Gallipoli Campaign 4 May 1915 , 1921). Australia in
8370-544: Was one year old her parents, Donald Cameron, a farmer from Scotland, and Mary Ann Beattie, decided to move to Wagga Wagga to join her maternal grandparents, the Beatties, who had moved there from Penrith, New South Wales in 1866. Her father obtained a job as a station manager at a property at Cowabbie , 100 km north of Wagga. A year later, he left that job to become a carpenter, building homesteads on properties in Wagga, Coolamon , Junee , Temora and West Wyalong for
8463-575: Was read aloud by United States president Donald Trump during a state dinner for Australia in the presence of prime minister Morrison. The Mary Gilmore Award was established in 1956 by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) as the ACTU Dame Mary Gilmore Award, and after several incarnations with prizes awarded in several different categories, has been awarded as a poetry prize since 1985, as of 2022 by
8556-625: Was regarded as one of Australia's most popular and widely read poets. In 1908 she became women's editor of The Worker , the newspaper of then Australia's largest and most powerful trade union, the Australian Workers' Union (AWU). She was the union's first woman member. The Worker gave her a platform for her journalism, in which she campaigned for the preservation of the White Australia Policy, better working conditions for working women, for children's welfare and for
8649-457: Was the inspiration for the film Schindler's List . Other notable Australian novels converted to celluloid include: Paul Brickhill 's The Great Escape ; Pamela Lyndon Travers ' Mary Poppins ; Morris West 's The Shoes of the Fisherman and Bryce Courtenay 's The Power of One . Careful, He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott won the Miles Franklin Award in 1963, and was
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