DOCSLIB.ORG

'A Gumtree Is Not a Branch of an Oak'

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
'A Gumtree Is Not a Branch of an Oak' ‘A gumtree is not a branch of an oak’ Indigenising settler nationalism in 1930s Australia by Dan Tout Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Swinburne University of Technology October 2018 Abstract Questions over what, whether and when the Australian nation is or might be have been of consistent concern throughout most of Australia’s settler-colonial history and remain so today. In attempting to construct a national culture and identity, settler Australians, like settlers elsewhere, have invested in the establishment of a national literary tradition. This project of national cultural construction has emphasised a dual process of acclimation and maturation to claim the settler collective’s attainment of maturity and legitimacy within the metropolitan domain of world literature and belonging to the land that provides the underlying imperative for settler colonisation itself. In the standard story of inevitably unfurling national cultural development towards these two ends, Britain has played the part of ‘the mother country’ (or parent oak), while Australia is the child (or seedling) that eventually and inevitably reaches maturity in the new soil. In Manning Clark’s famous application of Henry Lawson’s phrase, Britain was ‘the Old Dead Tree’, Australia ‘the Young Tree Green’. Yet these narratives of national maturation operate to conceal the nature and the complexity of the environment the national literary culture was supposed to be acclimatising to, and becoming expressive of. In constructing narratives of Australian national cultural development in terms of bilateral oppositions between colony and metropole, such narratives neglect the complexities of the settler-colonial, as distinct from the colonial, ‘situation’. On the contrary, this thesis is premised on the central proposition that the settler-colonial situation is fundamentally conditioned by a triangular system of relationships involving settler, metropolitan and Indigenous agencies. In this schema, the settler is compelled towards both indigenisation and neo- European replication, while both trajectories are similarly founded on the prior displacement — both literal and symbolic — of pre-existing Indigenous populations. ‘A gumtree is not a branch of an oak’ i The 1930s was a crucial moment in the project of national identity construction, in which prevailing circumstances combined to make settler nationalism simultaneously more urgent and increasingly problematic. In particular, the demise of the ‘doomed race’ ideal, which had until then envisaged the inevitable and imminent resolution of the triadic relations of settler colonialism into the dyadic ones of ‘franchise’ or ‘dependent’ colonialism, meant that settlers, and especially settler nationalists, found themselves confronting the prospect of a persistent Indigenous presence within the boundaries of the settler nation. They were therefore compelled to negotiate the more complex — for the nationalist project, at least — trilateral relations characteristic of settler colonialism, rather than the relatively more straightforward bilateral ones of colonialism proper. This dissertation focuses on this historical and cultural context, and on three exemplary settler nationalists working within and responding to it: writer, editor and publisher, Percy Reginald ‘Inky’ Stephensen (1901–65); poet and editor, Reginald Charles (Rex) Ingamells (1913–55); and writer and polemicist, Alfred Francis Xavier Herbert (1901–84). At a historical moment marked by ambivalence in Australia’s relationship with metropolitan England, Stephensen, Ingamells and Herbert sought to establish settler Australia’s national cultural independence. In doing so, they each encountered, and responded to, the reality of a persistent and resistant Indigenous presence within the settler nation. While Stephensen posited himself and the Australian national culture he sought to construct as inheritors of both European and Indigenous traditions, and Ingamells engaged in a project of radical indigenist appropriation that separated and usurped a symbolic indigeneity from its bearers, Herbert celebrated instead the potentiality of ‘Euraustralian’ hybridity to overcome his own, and by extension his compatriots’, illegitimacy. While these approaches are ostensibly at odds, the central argument advanced in this thesis is that they share a drive towards settler indigenisation and independence as their common, overriding concerns. ii ‘A gumtree is not a branch of an oak’ Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, A/Prof Lorenzo Veracini, for his exceptional combination of insight and encouragement. It has been an honour for me to work so closely with the leading scholar in my field and to find in him such an engaged and engaging supervisor. He has provided me with the perfect balance of insightful (and incisive) criticism, intellectual stimulation and moral support — and, I hope I can say it, friendship — to guide me through to the completion of this project. There have been (many) moments I have doubted the value of this project, and my ability to complete it successfully (to an even greater extent, that is, than the persistent undercurrent of self- doubt and anxiety I have experienced since my application and enrolment), and in those moments Lorenzo has offered nothing but encouragement. There have been (many) other moments where work, and family, have, more or less rightly, taken priority over my research, and in those moments Lorenzo has stepped in to insist I persevere. I feel extraordinarily grateful to have landed him as a supervisor, and to have developed what I hope will be a lifelong, personally and intellectually rewarding relationship. I would also like to thank my associate supervisors, now-Emeritus Professor Brian Costar and Dr Julie Kimber, for their support and encouragement over the course of my candidature. While our associations have been intermittent, their careful questions and comments as to the direction and progress of my project have invariably been appropriate, penetrating and exceedingly well-timed. In addition, I am deeply indebted to my Head of School at Federation University, Dr Beth Edmondson, whose steady interest and encouragement, flexibility and willingness to support my research in whatever ways possible, have been instrumental in enabling me to (finally) complete this project. And last, but precisely the opposite of least, of course, my gratitude goes to my beautiful wife, Alice. All the usual clichés apply, but it wasn’t only her unwavering intellectual and emotional encouragement, but also her constant, delicate fielding (and for the most ‘A gumtree is not a branch of an oak’ iii part deflecting) of questions about my progress from an increasingly concerned cohort of family and friends, and, most importantly, her support in surviving family life on an everyday basis (especially as the end of my candidature approached), that helped me immeasurably through what turned out to be a more difficult period than I (but not Alice) had anticipated. In hindsight, Alice, you were right: embarking on a PhD with a newborn, first-born child was probably a mistake. And having a second child to mark mid-candidature was almost certainly one. I would never tell the children, of course, but we know the truth. More than anything else, however, your unceasing dedication to your own creative and intellectual pursuits has been a challenge and an inspiration to me as I have struggled my way through this project. It may be a truism, but in this case it’s really true: I couldn’t have done it without you. To my mistakes children: I did this in spite, but also (and I mean this literally) because, of you. I look forward to parenthood sans a dissertation to write (as I’m sure do you), and (I hope) to you (eventually) calling me — whether you like it or not — Dr Dad. A final round of acknowledgements is also in order. My gratitude goes to the anonymous reviewers of the several articles I have published on this research en route to this final destination, whose careful and considered comments led to much better publications and, I hope, a vastly improved dissertation, as well as to the editors of those publications for allowing me the opportunity to publish with them. In the current academic climate (and here I speak from personal experience), good (available) reviewers are increasingly hard to find, and I have been extremely fortunate to have been given the constructive feedback I have so far received. I would also like to acknowledge the State Library of Victoria, where I was lucky enough to engage in part of the research for this project under the aegis of an AGL Shaw Summer Research Fellowship (even if the website misstates my research, and has done for several years). iv ‘A gumtree is not a branch of an oak’ Declaration I confirm that the following thesis: 1. Contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma; and 2. To the best of my knowledge contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. Dan Tout, 30 June 2018 ‘A gumtree is not a branch of an oak’ v Table of contents Introduction 1 A story of two Australias? 1 Two is not three (and three is not all) 13 Always almost ‘coming of age’ 21 Thesis outline 33 Terminological notes and definitions 38 1. Displacement, disavowal and replacement in Australian settler colonialism 47 Introduction 47 The emergence and consolidation of settler
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1 Hyperlinks and Networked Communication: a Comparative
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by The Australian National University 1 Hyperlinks and Networked Communication: A Comparative Study of Political Parties Online This is a pre-print for: R. Ackland and R. Gibson (2013), “Hyperlinks and Networked Communication: A Comparative Study of Political Parties Online,” International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(3), special issue on Computational Social Science: Research Strategies, Design & Methods, 231-244. Dr. Robert Ackland, Research Fellow at the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia *Professor Rachel Gibson, Professor of Politics, Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. *Corresponding author: Professor Rachel Gibson Institute for Social Change University of Manchester, Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL UK Ph: + 44 (0)161 306 6933 Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 0793 [email protected] Word count: 6,062(excl title page and key words) 2 Abstract This paper analyses hyperlink data from over 100 political parties in six countries to show how political actors are using links to engage in a new form of ‘networked communication’ to promote themselves to an online audience. We specify three types of networked communication - identity reinforcement, force multiplication and opponent dismissal - and hypothesise variance in their performance based on key party variables of size and ideological outlook. We test our hypotheses using an original comparative hyperlink dataset. The findings support expectations that hyperlinks are being used for networked communication by parties, with identity reinforcement and force multiplication being more common than opponent dismissal. The results are important in demonstrating the wider communicative significance of hyperlinks, in addition to their structural properties as linkage devices for websites.
    [Show full text]
  • Issue 17 Ausact: the Australian Actor Training Conference 2019
    www.fusion-journal.com Fusion Journal is an international, online scholarly journal for the communication, creative industries and media arts disciplines. Co-founded by the Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University (Australia) and the College of Arts, University of Lincoln (United Kingdom), Fusion Journal publishes refereed articles, creative works and other practice-led forms of output. Issue 17 AusAct: The Australian Actor Training Conference 2019 Editors Robert Lewis (Charles Sturt University) Dominique Sweeney (Charles Sturt University) Soseh Yekanians (Charles Sturt University) Contents Editorial: AusAct 2019 – Being Relevant .......................................................................... 1 Robert Lewis, Dominique Sweeney and Soseh Yekanians Vulnerability in a crisis: Pedagogy, critical reflection and positionality in actor training ................................................................................................................ 6 Jessica Hartley Brisbane Junior Theatre’s Abridged Method Acting System ......................................... 20 Jack Bradford Haunted by irrelevance? ................................................................................................. 39 Kim Durban Encouraging actors to see themselves as agents of change: The role of dramaturgs, critics, commentators, academics and activists in actor training in Australia .............. 49 Bree Hadley and Kathryn Kelly ISSN 2201-7208 | Published under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) From ‘methods’ to ‘approaches’:
    [Show full text]
  • Still Anti-Asian? Anti-Chinese? One Nation Policies on Asian Immigration and Multiculturalism
    Still Anti-Asian? Anti-Chinese? One Nation policies on Asian immigration and multiculturalism 仍然反亚裔？反华裔？ 一国党针对亚裔移民和多元文化 的政策 Is Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party anti-Asian? Just how much has One Nation changed since Pauline Hanson first sat in the Australian Parliament two decades ago? This report reviews One Nation’s statements of the 1990s and the current policies of the party. It concludes that One Nation’s broad policies on immigration and multiculturalism remain essentially unchanged. Anti-Asian sentiments remain at One Nation’s core. Continuity in One Nation policy is reinforced by the party’s connections with anti-Asian immigration campaigners from the extreme right of Australian politics. Anti-Chinese thinking is a persistent sub-text in One Nation’s thinking and policy positions. The possibility that One Nation will in the future turn its attacks on Australia's Chinese communities cannot be dismissed. 宝林·韩森的一国党是否反亚裔？自从宝林·韩森二十年前首次当选澳大利亚 议会议员以来，一国党改变了多少？ 本报告回顾了一国党在二十世纪九十年代的声明以及该党的现行政策。报告 得出的结论显示，一国党关于移民和多元文化的广泛政策基本保持不变。反 亚裔情绪仍然居于一国党的核心。通过与来自澳大利亚极右翼政坛的反亚裔 移民竞选人的联系，一国党的政策连续性得以加强。反华裔思想是一国党思 想和政策立场的一个持久不变的潜台词。无法排除一国党未来攻击澳大利亚 华人社区的可能性。 Report Philip Dorling May 2017 ABOUT THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE The Australia Institute is an independent public policy think tank based in Canberra. It is funded by donations from philanthropic trusts and individuals and commissioned research. Since its launch in 1994, the Institute has carried out highly influential research on a broad range of economic, social and environmental issues. OUR PHILOSOPHY As we begin the 21st century, new dilemmas confront our society and our planet. Unprecedented levels of consumption co-exist with extreme poverty. Through new technology we are more connected than we have ever been, yet civic engagement is declining.
    [Show full text]
  • We're Not Nazis, But…
    August 2014 American ideals. Universal values. Acknowledgements On human rights, the United States must be a beacon. This report was made possible by the generous Activists fighting for freedom around the globe continue to support of the David Berg Foundation and Arthur & look to us for inspiration and count on us for support. Toni Rembe Rock. Upholding human rights is not only a moral obligation; it’s Human Rights First has for many years worked to a vital national interest. America is strongest when our combat hate crimes, antisemitism and anti-Roma policies and actions match our values. discrimination in Europe. This report is the result of Human Rights First is an independent advocacy and trips by Sonni Efron and Tad Stahnke to Greece and action organization that challenges America to live up to Hungary in April, 2014, and to Greece in May, 2014, its ideals. We believe American leadership is essential in as well as interviews and consultations with a wide the struggle for human rights so we press the U.S. range of human rights activists, government officials, government and private companies to respect human national and international NGOs, multinational rights and the rule of law. When they don’t, we step in to bodies, scholars, attorneys, journalists, and victims. demand reform, accountability, and justice. Around the We salute their courage and dedication, and give world, we work where we can best harness American heartfelt thanks for their counsel and assistance. influence to secure core freedoms. We are also grateful to the following individuals for We know that it is not enough to expose and protest their work on this report: Tamas Bodoky, Maria injustice, so we create the political environment and Demertzian, Hanna Kereszturi, Peter Kreko, Paula policy solutions necessary to ensure consistent respect Garcia-Salazar, Hannah Davies, Erica Lin, Jannat for human rights.
    [Show full text]
  • The Australian Theatre Family
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Sydney eScholarship A Chance Gathering of Strays: the Australian theatre family C. Sobb Ah Kin MA (Research) University of Sydney 2010 Contents: Epigraph: 3 Prologue: 4 Introduction: 7 Revealing Family 7 Finding Ease 10 Being an Actor 10 Tribe 15 Defining Family 17 Accidental Culture 20 Chapter One: What makes Theatre Family? 22 Story One: Uncle Nick’s Vanya 24 Interview with actor Glenn Hazeldine 29 Interview with actor Vanessa Downing 31 Interview with actor Robert Alexander 33 Chapter Two: It’s Personal - Functioning Dysfunction 39 Story Two: “Happiness is having a large close-knit family. In another city!” 39 Interview with actor Kerry Walker 46 Interview with actor Christopher Stollery 49 Interview with actor Marco Chiappi 55 Chapter Three: Community −The Indigenous Family 61 Story Three: Who’s Your Auntie? 61 Interview with actor Noel Tovey 66 Interview with actor Kyas Sheriff 70 Interview with actor Ursula Yovich 73 Chapter Four: Director’s Perspectives 82 Interview with director Marion Potts 84 Interview with director Neil Armfield 86 Conclusion: A Temporary Unity 97 What Remains 97 Coming and Going 98 The Family Inheritance 100 Bibliography: 103 Special Thanks: 107 Appendix 1: Interview Information and Ethics Protocols: 108 Interview subjects and dates: 108 • Sample Participant Information Statement: 109 • Sample Participant Consent From: 111 • Sample Interview Questions 112 2 Epigraph: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Everything was in confusion in the Oblonsky’s house. The wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a French girl, who had been a governess in their family, and she had announced to her husband that she could not go on living in the same house with him.
    [Show full text]
  • Remembering Edouard Borovansky and His Company 1939–1959
    REMEMBERING EDOUARD BOROVANSKY AND HIS COMPANY 1939–1959 Marie Ada Couper Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 School of Culture and Communication The University of Melbourne 1 ABSTRACT This project sets out to establish that Edouard Borovansky, an ex-Ballets Russes danseur/ teacher/choreographer/producer, was ‘the father of Australian ballet’. With the backing of J. C. Williamson’s Theatres Limited, he created and maintained a professional ballet company which performed in commercial theatre for almost twenty years. This was a business arrangement, and he received no revenue from either government or private sources. The longevity of the Borovansky Australian Ballet company, under the direction of one person, was a remarkable achievement that has never been officially recognised. The principal intention of this undertaking is to define Borovansky’s proper place in the theatrical history of Australia. Although technically not the first Australian professional ballet company, the Borovansky Australian Ballet outlasted all its rivals until its transformation into the Australian Ballet in the early 1960s, with Borovansky remaining the sole person in charge until his death in 1959. In Australian theatre the 1930s was dominated by variety shows and musical comedies, which had replaced the pantomimes of the 19th century although the annual Christmas pantomime remained on the calendar for many years. Cinemas (referred to as ‘picture theatres’) had all but replaced live theatre as mass entertainment. The extremely rare event of a ballet performance was considered an exotic art reserved for the upper classes. ‘Culture’ was a word dismissed by many Australians as undefinable and generally unattainable because of our colonial heritage, which had long been the focus of English attitudes.
    [Show full text]
  • Response from Dr Jim Saleam to the Objections Raised to the Australia
    Australia First Party P.O. Box 593 Rockdale 2216 August 18 2016 Mr. Tom Roberts Commissioner Australian Electoral Commission P.O. Box 6172 Kingston 2604 Re: Application for logo / objection Australia First Party (NSW) Incorporated Australian Electoral Act Section 129 / Tomas Fitzgerald This very lengthy objection is the product of an academic noted for his knowledge of intellectual property rights and related law. We thank him for his intervention. Nonetheless, there is an old bar-room saying that ‘bullshit baffles brains’. I would suggest that this objection is the perfect converse example of brains being hired to argue bullshit. Consequently, it needs some careful attention lest direction is lost. Mr. Fitzgerald states the law Section 129 and the power of the AEC to decline to register a logo. I intend to reply as I see and understand Mr. Fitzgerald’s objections. 1. Our position on this application reduces to a simple argument: Australia First Party does not seek to register the logo or the trademark of any other person as Mr. Fitzgerald would have it. A logo can be a composite thing or a simple thing, whatsoever the logo maker would design it to be. Mr. Fitzgerald says: The ordinary use of the word logo denotes a symbol or graphical representation that identifies an organisation or person. In this respect, logos are akin to trademarks, though they are not identical. The specific legal definition of trademark and the protections offered thereto will no doubt differ from logos more generally. Nevertheless, it is an apposite comparison. (p.4) Conversely, a political entity could not have a reasonable expectation that they are entitled to register as a political logo a graphical representation which is another person’s trademark.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Nationalist Ideological, Historical, and Legal Archive
    AUSTRALIAN NATIONALIST IDEOLOGICAL, HISTORICAL, AND LEGAL ARCHIVE www.alphalink.com.au/~radnat MISSION STATEMENT (as updated, August 24 2002): This Site is a document archive linked to other Australian Nationalist political and information sites. A few Australian authors are on-line. As further works are prepared for Internet publication, additional Australian authors shall appear here. This document archive shall: (i) Ground Australian Nationalism ideologically and historically; this task is related to the legitimacy of the cause as well as the discussion of its favoured political expressions and historical place and activism; providing an accurate analysis is vital in combatting the misrepresentation of Nationalist ideology and politics by its opponents in politics and the media. (ii) Answer (when appropriate) the State-liberal-political-police propaganda which attempts to delegitimize the Nationalist organizations by an assertion that they have operated, or do operate, in a criminal manner; this task shall be addressed by relevant exposé of various "legal processes" operated against Nationalist leaders and other patriotic identities in the past. This Archive shall be continually updated and maintained as a resource for the instruction of a new generation of Nationalist leaders and activists. Texts of a general relevancy to the development of Australian Nationalist ideology and politics will also be placed upon this site. This includes material drawn from the corpus of Euro-nationalist discourse. The Editors welcome that our attention is drawn to selective material. The Editors will permit some debate around the issue of ideological and political formation and shall not censor any reasonable view on any subject which advances this objective.
    [Show full text]
  • [T]He Poet Would Define the Amount of the Unknown Awakening in His Time in the Universal Soul
    [T]he poet would define the amount of the unknown awakening in his time in the universal soul.... Poetry.. .will be in advance. Arthur Rimbaud. (Tijverything in the world exists to end in a book. The qualities required in this work - most certainly genius - frighten me as one of those devoid of them: not to stop there, and granted that the volume requires no signatory, what is it? - the hymn of the connexions between all things, harmony, and joy, entrusted with seeing divinely because the bond, limpid at will, has no expression except in the parallelism of leaves of a book before his glance. Stephane Mallarme [rjt's a faith in what used to be called in old Victorian novels 'the Divine Mystery.' I can't find a better word for it, because it is a mystery to me. All I know is that it pours down love.. .[and] I worship that with my uttermost being. Bruce Beaver 2 Introduction For critics of recent contemporary Australian poetry, the term 'New Poetry' sug• gests primarily the work of those poets published in John Tranter's 1979 anthology, The New Australian Poetry.1 According to Tranter these twenty-four poets, only two of whom are women, formed a 'loose group'2 of writers associated with various poetry readings, little magazines and small presses in Sydney and Melbourne during the late sixties and seventies.3 Although there were many little magazines and small presses associated with the period, and earlier anthologies which had gathered together achievements of the New Poets,4 to a significant extent Tranter's anthology has circumscribed for critics the boundaries of the New Poetry group, and those poets published in the anthology have attracted a measure of critical acclaim.
    [Show full text]
  • How the National Guard Grew out of Progressive Era Reforms Matthew Am Rgis Iowa State University
    Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2016 America's Progressive Army: How the National Guard grew out of Progressive Era Reforms Matthew aM rgis Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Military History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Margis, Matthew, "America's Progressive Army: How the National Guard grew out of Progressive Era Reforms" (2016). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 15764. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/15764 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. America’s progressive army: How the National Guard grew out of progressive era reforms by Matthew J. Margis A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Rural, Agricultural, Technological, Environmental History Program of Study Committee: Timothy Wolters, Major Professor Julie Courtwright Jeffrey Bremer Amy Bix John Monroe Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2016 Copyright © Matthew J. Margis, 2016. All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION This is dedicated to my parents, and the loving memory of Anna Pattarozzi,
    [Show full text]
  • Unit 4 Literary Beginnings - Oral Literature
    UNIT 4 LITERARY BEGINNINGS - ORAL LITERATURE Structure 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Oral Literature - A Contradiction in Terms 1.2 Aboriginal Traditions 1.3 Cohnial Traditions 4.3.1 Convict Traditions 4.3.2 Bush Traditions 1.4 Let Us Sum Up 1.5 Questions 1.6 Works Cited 4.0 OBJECTIVES This section will introduce certain aspects of the oral traditions within the Aboriginal and early settler communities. Two broad aims of this section are to show the need to broaden the traditional boundaries of 'Literature' to include oral traditions and to show how they have influenced the more conventional forms of written literature in Australia. The fact that the phrase 'oral literature' seems like a contradiction in terms tells us about the assumptions that have become connected with the word 'Literature' in academic and cultural discussions. Though in most cultures the narrative traditions that eventually developed into written forms have had a very strong oral aspect, the inclusion of literary studies at different levels of education, with the emphasis on the printed word, has often led to this aspect being ignored. This has been felt even within literary studies programmes, especially in relation to genres such as Orma and poetry. A purely text-centred focus in these cases takes away inuch from those aspects of these forms, which deal with performance and the spoken word. Literature has also become in certain circumstances a term implying superiority in relation to popular cultural forms. Oral forms such as Aboriginal song cycles, colonial ballads and bush songs are often seen to fall outside the scope of literary studies on the grou~ldsof their oral nature as well as their origins in folklore or so- called popular culture.
    [Show full text]
  • The Year That Was
    Kunapipi Volume 2 Issue 1 Article 18 1980 The Year That Was Anna Rutherford University of Aarhus, Denmark Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Rutherford, Anna, The Year That Was, Kunapipi, 2(1), 1980. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol2/iss1/18 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] The Year That Was Abstract Australia It's been a year for the bizarre in Australian fiction: a transvestite who is a Byzantine empress/ station hand/ whore-mistress; a narrating foetus; a plantation owner who takes you out at night to wrestle renegade pineapples to the ground; characters with words stamped on their foreheads and one with a coffin owinggr out of his side ... This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol2/iss1/18 The Year That Was AUSTRALIA It's been a year for the bizarre in Australian fiction: a transvestite who is a Byzantine empress/ station hand/ whore-mistress; a narrating foetus; a plantation owner who takes you out at night to wrestle renegade pine­ apples to the ground; characters with words stamped on their foreheads and one with a coffin growing out of his side ... Little did Synge know when he said there should be material for drama with all those 'shepherds going mad in lonely huts'! The theme of the year's most remarkable book, Patrick White's The Twybom Affair Oonathan Cape) is caught early when one of its charac· ters remarks, 'The difference between the sexes is no worse than their appalling similarity'.
    [Show full text]