Rananim The Journal of the D.H. Lawrence Society of Australia ISSN No: 1039-9658 www.cybersydney.com.au/dhl Vol. 11, No. 1. March 2003 A Tale of 2 Picnics (& an AGM) By Robert Darroch taken by both the professionalism enjoyed both the view and the picnic of our DHLA society, and the fare comestibles. or many DHLA members, our of The Spotted Cod. Our Presi- It was a sparkling, crystal-clear F social activities provide, on the dent, John Lacey, reported on the day, as only Sydney in spring can one hand, something pleasurable to previous year’s events, and also cont’d over page lighten to the load of Lawrentian thanked the “anonymous donor” navel-gazing, and on the other, a who provided a very welcome CONTENTS welcome distraction for those of our cheque for $500 to help finance members not intimately involved in this present issue of Rananim, How to Contact Us 2 serious Lawrence lucubrations. and our website. Balls Head Picnic Snaps 3 Since our last issue, our social Vice-President Robert DHL Knew My Father 4 scene has been, as Lady Bracknell Darroch delivered his accustomed Who Put a Comma In? 8 says in the context of Miss Cecily philippic on the state of the From Cagliari to Coalcliff 10 Cardew’s various medical adven- Society, and it was generally Lawrence & Lincoln Cathedral 13 tures, “full of incident”. agreed that we should continue Our Victorian Correspondent 14 The highlight, however, has our efforts and existence, despite Our Bejing Correspondent 15 A Shead Exhibition 16 been two picnics, the first at Balls the chill winds that sometimes Head, and the second at our A Wyewurk Romance 17 blow our way from the more lofty How DHL Fell on His Feet 18 accustomed DHLA rendezvous, the peaks of Lawrence orthodoxy. Kangaroos at the Zoo 24 Rose Pavilion at the Royal Botanic Lawrence & Nietzsche 26 Gardens. Balls Head barbecue Clarifications 30 Our social year, post the last Our AGM 2002 32 issue of Rananim (May 2002), The Balls Head picnic, held Future Events 32 kicked off with the AGM, held on in September, was a signal Lawrence Into Fox 33 May 18 at the interesting venue of success. We secured the prime Bits 34 The Spotted Cod (upstairs room) in spot, outside the cave overlook- At the Sea’s Edge (poem) 34 Letters 35 Balmain (see report p 32). ing the Harbour, and about 30 or Peter Jones brought along two Editor’s Column 36 so members, new members, Membership Form 36 English friends, who were rather prospective members, and guests Rananim 1 Le Dejeuner sur le cont’d from previous page really did live at 51 Murdoch Street, provide (what a pity Lawrence as well as the start of our regular didn’t stay on for a few weeks after Rananim features, Bits and Letters. August 11, 1922, and see what So our picnic in the Rose Sydney could do when the weather Pavilion last December was not only starts to warm up). pleasant and well-attended (despite Our President, John Lacey, the propinquity of Christmas), but outlined some of the coming marked some significant milestones events, and Dr Andrew Moore in our Society’s chequered history. revealed some interesting snippets We had, of course, hoped to from a little-known history of the look forward to celebrating the more University of Sydney Regiment significant 10th anniversary of our (which was up to its knees in secret founding next November in the The D.H. Lawrence army plotting in the 1930s). Rose Pavilion. However, a cloud Society of Australia So successful was the Balls has risen up over this possibility, as President: John Lacey Head picnic that your committee is the Rose Pavilion and its surround- Vice-President: Robert considering making it an annual ings will be undergoing some major Darroch event of our social calendar. changes in the coming year. Secretary: Margaret Jones The second picnic was our A blight of some sort had Treasurer: Doug Knowland more traditional annual one in the infected the ambient roses, and they have to be torn up and replanted, Membership Secretary: Rose Pavilion, where our Society was officially formed on November and the RBG authorities are taking Sandra Jobson 21, 1993 (which means that next the opportunity to revamp the Editor, Rananim: John Lacey November will be the 10th anniver- whole area. There is, therefore, Publisher, Rananim: Sandra sary of our launching). some doubt about the availability of Jobson It is worth recalling – as the Pavilion next November. Editorial Committee: John Robert Darroch did at the picnic Nevertheless, we have made a Lacey, Robert Darroch, Sandra (John Lacey having a bad case of tentative booking, and even if that Jobson, Margaret Jones, laryngitis, and being able only to particular spot is unavailable, we Marylyn Valentine, Eve mutter a few sentences) – that it hope to bivouac at some appropri- Harrison was in fact 10 years ago last ate place nearby. We will keep you Archivist: Marylyn Valentine November that the roots of our informed. (So long as we are within Artists: Paul Delprat, Garry DHLA were planted, when a small sight or sound of the “castellated” Shead group of people met in the Thirroul Conservatorium, we preserve some PO Box 100, Millers Point, Library to discuss converting our degree of relevance in our doings.) NSW 2000, Australia previous Save Wyewurk committee As for future events, Presi- Fax: (02) 9130 6023 into the DH Lawrence Society of dent Lacey has something interest- e-mail: [email protected] Australia. ing planned (but yet to be con- www.cybersydney.com.au/dhl The November 21, 1993, firmed) for our AGM, probably in inaugural meeting in the Botanic May. He has in mind a venue that Gardens was the consequence of will, or would, be most interesting, SIMON FINCH that earlier November 14, 1992, and lend something extra to the Catalogue 51 meeting, when an interim committee occasion, which is becoming also was formed under the chairmanship something of a tradition with its D. H. LAWRENCE of Robert Darroch, who had been various venues (who can forget our An exceptional collection convenor of the original Save AGM in the Kuo Ming Tang of first editions, Wyewurk committee. building in Ultimo - or the one in the autograph material, The first issue of our journal, Sydney Trades Hall?) manuscripts, original Rananim, was published in October We have some very interest- paintings, photographs, 1993, reporting the birth of the ing articles and items in this issue, and association items DHLA society and the fact that from Marylyn Valentine’s excellent To receive your free copy Wyewurk, while not “saved”, had piece on Lawrence and Nietzsche, of the catalogue, contact at least been preserved to some through President Lacey’s Sardinian us at: extent (in which state it remains). excursions, to Dr Andrew Moore’s Simon Finch Rare Books That first issue contained visit to Lincoln, to Angela Barker - 61a Ledbury Road, some interesting and important who asks: was it really a kangaroo? London W11 2AL articles, including future President - to Dr Peter Jones’s memories of UK John Lacey on trains to Thirroul, proposing on the beach below Tel: 020 7792 3303 Robert Darroch on Lawrence’s Wyewurk. Fax: 020 7243 2134 “Letters of Introduction”, John A lively Society, a lively issue [email protected] Ruffels on Bert Toy, the man who of Rananim. 2 Rananim Balls Head (by John Lacey) All the usual suspects gathered for a barbe- cue and other delights. We managed to set up our “camp” in the secluded area next to the cave overlooking Sydney Harbour The Balls Head site, one of Sydney’s lesser- known picnic venues, affords a superb view of the Sydney skyline from the western side of the Sydney Har- bour Bridge Rananim 3 cont’d over page DH Lawrence Knew My Father My Father Knew DH Lawrence By Robert Darroch Drawing by Paul Delprat awrence flitted in and out of Australia so quickly, several chapters about it in her autobiography, The L so briefly and – apart from his stay in W.A. – Fifth Sparrow. so anonymously, that few Australians knew he was We even have a record of the day he spent in here, or had any chance to see or meet him. Melbourne, on his way to Sydney. So we are desperately short of first-hand ac- But from Sydney and Thirroul, where he spent counts of his visit. by far the bulk of his time in Australia, and where he Which is a great pity, because Lawrence schol- wrote Kangaroo, we have just one significant ac- ars around the world would dearly like to know more count, and that from a British migrant he met on the about the time he spent in boat from Perth to Sydney, and Australia – from May 4 to with whom he kept in touch August 11, 1922 - and the when in NSW. (The other two truth about the novel he brief NSW accounts come wrote here, Kangaroo. from Mrs Southwell, his There is an interesting, Thirroul landlady, and her niece, and perhaps curious, di- whose mother let Wyewurk to chotomy here. For, as im- the Lawrences.) plied above, when he first We know, however, from arrived, and stepped ashore various secondary sources that in Western Australia, he was Lawrence met quite a number both gregarious and a celeb- of people in both Thirroul and rity. He went out of his way Sydney. Yet none, apart from to meet and get to know lo- those above, left any account cal people, and shied away of those meetings.