“Offensively Australian:” Walkabout and Middlebrow Writers, 1927-1969

“Offensively Australian:” Walkabout and Middlebrow Writers, 1927-1969 By Petrina Lee-Anne Osborne B.N., B.A. (Hons.), M.I.M. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania October 2014 ii Declaration of Originality This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree of diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Petrina Osborne Authority of Access This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Petrina Osborne iii Abstract This thesis undertakes a postcolonial reading of a selection of the fiction and non- fiction of Ion Idriess, Arthur Upfield, Ernestine Hill and John K. Ewers. It argues that their published and unpublished writing and correspondence contributed to a mid-twentieth-century literary discourse concerning identity, race and nation. The connection this study makes between these four middlebrow writers is their relationship with Walkabout, an Australian middlebrow geographic magazine. All four writers were noted contributors to the journal. In several ways their writerly endeavours—both fiction and non-fiction—paralleled Walkabout‘s attempts to influence its readers‘ views concerning identity and nation, particularly in respect to rendering the lesser known and populated regions of Australia familiar to its readership. There is no shortage of studies concerning literature‘s engagement with the constructs of identity and nation, however, few examine the unfashionable and sometimes forgotten Australian middlebrow. This thesis argues that the mostly unsophisticated writing produced by Idriess, Upfield, Hill and Ewers not only sought to thrill and entertain, it challenged dominant racial ideology, re-imagined settler history and embraced a modern yet distinct national identity. Idriess, Upfield, Hill and Ewers engaged with their considerable readership in overt ways, and in hitherto unrecognised more subtle ways. Furthermore, many of their readers read across multiple genres and forms and were capable of nuanced and insightful interpretations of these works. The body of work examined in this thesis attracts criticism for perpetuating a nostalgic national image and adopting negative racial stereotypes. Such criticism fails to identify the more subtle manner in which this writing examined iv contradictions and ambiguities in mid-twentieth-century society. Idriess‘ writing reflected the period‘s acceptance of a racial hierarchy and the contested nature of Australia‘s cross-cultural relations, but it also supported the growing interest in Indigenous culture and unsettled dominant notions concerning race. Upfield‘s fiction and non-fiction undertook a similar endeavour. His examination of ambivalent relationships between black and white in pastoral Australia suggested that Aborigines should be afforded greater opportunities to participate in society. A selection of Hill and Ewers‘ writing recognised the role literature played in shaping a nation‘s culture and identity. Hill examined processes which imagined a white nation into being and shaped its identity. Ewers utilised aspects of Indigenous culture to support his representation of a distinct nation and encouraged a retreat from Empire. Both he and Upfield were outspoken advocates for the development of a broad and inclusive national literature which rejected notions of Australia‘s cultural inferiority. All four writers shifted many readers‘ gazes from urban preoccupations and encouraged them to envisage a distinct and prosperous nation which valued its unique culture above those of other Western societies. v Acknowledgements Many thanks are extended to my supervisors Anna Johnston and Mitchell Rolls, who always gave generously of their time and expertise. They seldom failed to make me laugh and made my candidature a positive and memorable experience. My debt of gratitude to them is simply enormous as they were integral to the completion of the project. I am very grateful for the collegial and supportive environments provided by the Riawunna Centre and the School of Humanities at the University of Tasmania. The PVC(R) ARC Strategic Research Scholarship provided by the University of Tasmania and supplemented by the ARC Discovery Project DP0984449 was invaluable to the progress of this thesis and was greatly appreciated. This project would not have been possible without the constant and complete support of my husband, Mark Osborne. Special thanks are also extended to my parents Jean and Wayne Roberts and steadfast friends Karen, Leeanne, Prue, Catherine, Jeannie and Pia for their consistent encouragement. vi List of Abbreviations ANPA Australian National Publicity Association ANTA Australian National Travel Association FAWWA Fellowship of Australian Writers—Western Australian Section Terminology The Australian National Travel Association was renamed the Australian National Publicity Association in December 1940. The association reverted to its original name of the Australian National Travel Association in September 1954. For the sake of consistency and to avoid confusion the association will be referred to throughout this thesis as the Australian National Travel Association (ANTA). vii Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One ―Claquers‖ and Storytellers: Tensions Between the Brows 28 Chapter Two Ion Idriess: Pride and Paradox 71 Chapter Three Arthur W. Upfield: Crime and Punishment in Pastoral Australia 119 Chapter Four Ernestine Hill: ―The Ghost of the Old, the Chaos of the New‖ 166 Chapter Five John K. Ewers: Home, Place and Belonging 204 Conclusion 251 Works Cited 266 1 Introduction Walkabout was a long-running Australian geographic magazine that was launched in 1934 by the Australian National Travel Association (ANTA). Each monthly edition contained striking photography and a variety of articles concerning natural science, industrial development, local history, remote and regional communities and Indigenous culture. Although the magazine extended its coverage to the wider Pacific region it was dominated by a strong national focus. Its primary purpose was the promotion of Australian interests to local and international readers, but it also attempted to influence the domestic readers‘ views concerning nation and home. The magazine was largely successful in achieving these aims. David Carter claims that the publication ―upgraded ‗Australiana‘ into a serious, but still entertaining business, bringing the vast continent and its unique natural and human history … into the possession of its mainly urban readers‖ (―The Mystery of the Missing Middlebrow or the C(o)urse of Good Taste‖ 189). A wide number of writers contributed to the magazine‘s endeavours. Charles H. Holmes, the protagonist behind the magazine‘s publication and its editor between 1934 and 1957, described Walkabout‘s contributors as adventurous fellow travellers and explorers of Australian frontiers (―How ‗Walkabout‘ Began‖ 8). Writers were drawn from a large and varied pool of government officials, specialists, journalists, authors, academics and amateur enthusiasts. Holmes made special mention of a number of contributors including: Bill Harney, C. P. Mountford, Donald Thomson, Mary Durack, Donald Maclean, Henrietta Drake Brockman, Vance Palmer, Tarlton Rayment, Henry G. Lammond, 2 A. B. Haines, George Farwell, Ion Idriess, Arthur W. Upfield, Ernestine Hill and John K. Ewers (8). This thesis examines a selection of Walkabout articles, other non-fiction, fiction and unpublished correspondence produced by four of the aforementioned contributors: Idriess, Upfield, Hill and Ewers. The four writers shared Walkabout‘s fascination with remote and regional Australia. Ewers‘ zeal for all that marked the nation as distinct led artist and writer Jean Lang Crowe to classify him as ―offensively Australian‖ (56). This was a term Joseph Furphy had used to describe his own writing, however, Crowe suggests that Ewers‘ passion for his nation was equal to Furphy‘s. The term also applies to Idriess, Upfield and Hill. Their writing not only presented Australia‘s identity and literature as unique, it resisted a general acceptance of the nation‘s cultural inferiority. A shared desire to promote Australian writing, history and culture ensured the writers were ideal Walkabout contributors. Articles produced by Upfield and Idriess, both recognised bushmen and raconteurs, featured prominently in Walkabout‘s inaugural issue. The focus of ―Coming Down With Cattle‖ and ―The Kimberleys‖ on the pastoral industry in outback Australia reflects the magazine‘s veneration of remote regions and communities. The comparable visions of outback Australia contained in Walkabout and the writing of Upfield, Hill and Ewers was recognised in Walkabout’s Australia (1964), Alec Bolton‘s anthology of Walkabout articles published between 1934 and 1964. He claimed that his selection was representative of the magazine‘s best offerings (6). The collection included nine articles published between 1935 and 1949. All were focused on non-urban Australia which implies Walkabout‘s best articles from this period were those depicting outback communities and unique panoramas. Four of the nine selections were written

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