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The Unpublished Plays of Miles Franklin The Unpublished Plays of Miles Franklin Jocelyn Hedley Master of Arts (Research) 2007 Faculty of Arts University of New South Wales THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Hedley First name: Jocelyn Other name/s: Patricia Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: MRes School: English, Media and Performing Arts Faculty: Arts Title: The Unpublished Plays of Miles Franklin Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) With the publication of her novel, My Brilliant Career, in 1901, Miles Franklin became the darling of the Sydney literati. Great things were expected of the little girl from the bush. But five years later, nothing had eventuated; her talent, Miles thought, was barely recognised in Australia. In the hope of gaining greater writing opportunities, she shipped to Chicago where she became involved in social reform. It was hard work and ill paid, and though she bewailed the fact that it sapped her writing energy, she nonetheless felt a commitment to the cause such that she remained for almost a decade. In her spare time, though, she continued to write – and not just prose. More and more she wrote for the theatre, attempting to push into a world of which she had always dreamed. Blessed with a beautiful singing voice, she had long desired to be on the stage. This was impossible, though; her voice, she believed, had been ruined by bad training in her youth. To write for the stage, then, though a poor substitute, was at least in the field of her original ideal. Miles’ plays, though, are not remembered today, and are little thought of in scholarship, are considered, in fact, to have failed. This gives the false impression that they were always little thought of. Her correspondence, however, reveals that at least five of the plays were produced, indicating a certain level of success. Miles Franklin’s theatrical work, then, is surely worthy of further examination. This thesis looks at five of the plays in the light of Miles’ life and in the light of the society in which she found herself. In turn, it uses the plays to reveal something of the nature of the playwright herself and to show that Miles Franklin’s theatrical writing did not fail as once thought. In addition, it provides a complete bibliography of the plays (inclusive of locations), lists the duplications as they appear under alternate titles and provides synopses of a large number. This will make up for a gap in Miles Franklin scholarship and will facilitate other scholars in accessing the plays. This thesis, then, is an introduction to a new facet of Miles Franklin scholarship. Declaration relating to disposition of project thesis/dissertation I hereby grant to the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or in part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all property rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstracts International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). …………………………………………………………… ……………………………………..……………… ……….……………………...…….… Signature Witness Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests for a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed ……………………………………………........... Date …………………………………………….............. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ……………………………………………........................ Date ……………………………………………........................... AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed ……………………………………………....................... Date ……………………………………………........................... ‘…if I could go about as the women who belong to men do.’ Miles Franklin, 1949 2 Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction………………………… 4 Chapter II The Survivors………………….…… 23 Chapter III Phoebe Lambent and Love…….…… 38 Chapter IV The English Jackaroo..…………….. 53 Chapter V Tom Collins at Runnymede………… 71 Chapter VI The Dead Shall not Return…….…… 87 Chapter VII Conclusion.……………………..….. 104 Synopses of Selected Plays………………………… 115 Bibliography……………………………………..… 125 3 I It is October 1906 and a young Australian woman steps off the train at Chicago. Her journey has been long and full of adventure, coming as she has from quake stricken San Francisco – devastated just days before her arrival there – over the Rockies and across the plains of the Mid West of America1. And before that, she had crossed the Pacific Ocean by means of the 6,000 tonne steamship SS Ventura, boarded some six months earlier in Sydney, Australia. From far to the south-west of that city – outside the area now established as the nation’s capital – she has come, from a mountainous region named the Brindabella Ranges. Here she grew up the child of pioneers and here her father and his family worked the land. Here she lived, then there at the edges of Goulburn, then fleetingly in Sydney and Melbourne, right until now as she stands by her little pile of luggage, gazing at the vast vault of ceiling that crowns Chicago’s Union Station. Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin is she who stands upon the emptying platform. She is twenty-six and already has something of fame behind her. Five years earlier her novel, My Brilliant Career, was published and young Miles, as she chose to call herself, was on the road to success. She was beckoned forth from what was deemed the simplicity of the bush to the sophistication of the city where she was swept up at once into Sydney’s luminous literary world. Everybody wanted to meet the little bush girl who had written this ‘Bookful of Sunlight’2, and so showered her with invitations to dinners and salons and harbour picnics. She thrived on the life, made lasting friends and eventually took work as a parlour maid so that she might stay in the city permanently. Domestic service was not her first choice of how things might be, nor was it her only option. Vibrant, youthful and artistic, Miles attracted the attentions of numerous eligible gentlemen, one of whom was Andrew Barton ‘Banjo’ Paterson. The debonair poet, lawyer and war correspondent acquainted himself with the young writer and suggested they enter into a literary collaboration. She was reluctant, put off by his imperious manner towards her, and refused. Shortly afterwards, however, she succumbed to the allure of this dashing figure and 1 For a full account of the journey across America, see Coleman, Verna, Miles Franklin in America: Her Unknown (Brilliant) Career, Angus & Robertson, London, 1981. 2 A. G. Stephens in September 1901 entitled his review of My Brilliant Career ‘A Bookful of Sunlight’. Ibid., p. 38. 4 suggested that they work together on a play. Paterson, eager to begin, sent her a letter offering to pay her expenses for a week in Sydney. He followed this letter with one containing a cheque for £5 that she might make her way at once from her family’s home in the country to his writing side in the city. There were, it seems, suggestions of romance, to the delight of Miles’ beautiful younger sister Linda (‘When are you going to be Mrs Banjo?’3), herself affianced and desiring a similar joy for her sibling. Others, though, were less than pleased. Bush poet and Miles’ mentor, Henry Lawson, and his wife, Bertha, expressed grave concerns.
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