latest release DECADE QUARRY a selection of a selection of contemporary contemporary western australian western australian short fiction poetry edited by edited by B.R. COFFEY . FAY ZWICKY Twenty-one writers, including Peter Cowan, Twenty-six poets, includes Alan Alexander, Elizabeth Jolley, Fay Zwicky, Margot Luke, Nicholas Hasluck, Wendy Jenkins, Fay Zwicky, James Legasse, Brian Dibble and Robin Sheiner. Ian Templeman and Philip Salom. ' ... it challenges the reader precisely because it 'The range and quality of the work being done offers such lively, varied and inventive stories. is most impressive' - David Brooks. No question here of recipe, even for reading, ' ... a community of voices working within a much less for writing, but rather a testimony to range of registers, showing us how we are the liveliness and questioning' - Veronica Brady. same but different in our private responses . .' recommended retail price: $9.95 - James Legasse. recommended retail price: $6.00 SCARPDANCER DESERT MOTHER poems by poems by ALAN PHIUP COLliER ALEXANDER Sazrpdoncer consolidates Alan Alexander's Desert Mother introduces a new poet with a reputation as one of Australia's finest lyric fme wit and a marvellously exact ear for the poets. He is a poet of great flexibility and tone, style and idiosyncrasies of language. fmesse whose origins are clearly with the Irish Philip Collier is a poet who has developed tradition of post-Yeatsean lyricism. himself a lively and refreshingly original voice. West Coast Writing 14 West Coast Writing 15 recommended retail price: $6.50 recommended retail price: $6.95 available from your usual bookseller or Fremantle Arts Centre Press 1 Finnerty Street, Fremantle 6160 3358244 write for complete catalogue WESTERLY a quarterly review ISSN 0043-342x EDITORS: Bruce Bennett and Peter Cowan EDITOBIAL ADVISORS: Margot Luke, Veronica Brady, Fay Zwicky Westerly is published quarterly at the Centre for Studies in Australian Literature in the English Department, University of Western Australia, with assistance from the Literature Board of the Australia Council and the Western Australian Literary Fund. The opinions expressed in Westerly are those of individual contributors and not of the Editors or Editorial Advisors. Correspondence should be addressed to the Editors, Westerly, Department of English, University of Western Australia, N edlands, Western Australia 6009 (telephone 380 3838). Unsolicited manuscripts not accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope will not be returned. All manuscripts must show the name and address of the sender and should be typed (double-spaced) on one side of the paper only. Whilst every care is taken of manuscripts, the editors can take no final responsibility for their return; contributors are consequently urged to retain copies of all work submitted. Minimum rates for contributions-poems $7.00; prose pieces $7.00; reviews, articles, $15.00; short stories $30.00. It is stressed that these are minimum rates, based on the fact that very brief contributions in any field are acceptable. [n practice the editors aim to pay more, and will discuss payment where required. Recommended sale price: $3.00 per copy (W.A.). Subscriptions: $10.00 per annum (posted); $18.00 for 2 years (posted). Special student subscription rate: $8.00 per annum (posted). Single copies mailed: $3.00. Subscriptions should be made payable to Westerly, and sent to The Bursar, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009. Synopses of literary articles published in Westerly appear regularly in Abstracts of English Studiel (published by the American National Council of Teachers of English). A Note from the Editors This issue of Westerly is the first since the inauguration of a Centre for Studies in Australian Literature in the English Department of the University of Western Australia in September 1982. The business management of Westerly has been taken over by the Centre whose Secretary, Mrs Susan Miller, will work with the Editors in building up the magazine's sales and sUbscription lists and keeping our readers informed of developments. Our first decisions-to keep the price of Westerly to $3 per issue, or $10 per annum for subscribers-is one to which we will adhere as long as is humanly possible. At the same time, while the quality of material submitted for Westerly remains high, we will aim to hold our page length at around 100 pages per issue. The Centre for Studies in Australian Literature (CSAL) aims to co-ordinate research and publication activities in Australian literature. For this purpose, literature may be defined broadly to include a very wide range of forms of writing: it may even, as George Seddon persuasively argues in his article in this issue on Western Australian literature, include scientific writing, essays and his­ torical studies. Such writing, as Seddon indicates, may be considered from a literary standpoint alongside prose fiction, poetry and drama. The initial appoint­ ment to the Centre is Mr Peter Cowan as Honorary Research Fellow. The first activity of the Centre for Studies in Australian Literature was a seminar on Southeast Asian and Australian literature held at the University of Western Australia from 23 - 25 September 1982. The theme of this seminar, in which Southeast Asians and Australians participated, was 'The Writer's Sense of the Contemporary'. A selection of papers from the seminar will be published by the Centre. Another pUblication from the Centre will be the 1982 Octagon lecture by Leonie Kramer, 'From Fact to Legend: Writing and Broadcasting in Australia'. Leonie Kramer is Chairman of the ABC and Professor of Australian Literature at Sydney University. A major activity of the Centre next year is the organization of the conference of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature to be held at the Univer­ sity of Western Australia from 22 - 26 August, 1983. The theme of this conference is 'New Connections in Australian Literature and Theatre'. Inquiries about the conference can be made to the convenors, Bruce Bennett and Veronica Brady. Contributors to Westerly may wish to become Associate Members of the Centre for Studies in Australian Literature. This will enable you to receive regular infor­ mation about activities of CSAL and to obtain reduced rates on publications from the Centre. To obtain Associate Membership of CSAL you should write to Susan Miller, Centre for Studies in Australian Literature, English Department, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA. 6009, enclosing a cheque for $10. WESTERLY Volume 27, No.4, December 1982 CONTENTS A Note from the Editors 2 STORIES The Shedding 5 JUDITH LAZAROO Passengers 11 MEREDITH MICHIE Mandy's List 21 PETER GOLDSWORTHY Atonement 25 BETH SPENCER Anticipating the Dawn 27 J. W. CLARK The Path 29 JAMES WHITELAW The Load on Her Mind 39 RUSSELL BLACKFORD POEMS R. G. HAY 9 JEAN KENT 44 BRUCE DAWE 10 JENNIFER DE GARIS 46 LEON SLADE 20 BARRY O'DONOHUE 49 DORIS BRETT 24 ROD MORAN 51 DIANE DODWELL 32 GRAEME HETHERINGTON 55 RIVKA SHOLANE 34 MARK O'CONNOR 57 HEATHER CAM 36 RORY HARRIS 60 ANDREW BURKE 38 DALE HARCOMBE 130 MARGARET SCOTT 41 ARTICLES, INTERVIEWS, COMMENTARY­ LITERATURE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA Editorial Note 61 The Persistence of Place- 62 GEORGE SEDDON Western Australian Literature Fact and Historical Fiction: Ion L. Idriess and Colin Johnson 73 ADAM SHOEMAKER Colin Johnson Replies to Adam Shoemaker 80 A View of Colonial Life: Hume Nisbet 81 PETER COWAN The Garden and the City 99 DOROTHY HEWETT Place, Taste and the Making of a Tradition: Western Australian Writing Today 105 VERONICA BRADY An Interview with Jack Davis 111 ADAM SHOEMAKER Lawson on Westralia 117 GREG BURNS Lawrence, the Secret Army, and the West Australian Connexion: Molly Skinner 122 PAUL EGGERT REVIEWS A. D. Hope, Antechinus: Poems 1975-1980 127 DAVID BROOKS Penelope Hetherington: The Making of a Labor Politician 129 DOROTHY W. COLLIN Notes on Contributors 131 Cover: 'Riding Through the Blazing Bush'-illustration by Hume Nisbet from Cassell's Picturesque Australasia (l887)-see article by Peter Cowan. JUDITH LAZAROO The Shedding The Gardener Has a Problem The problem was really whether one could keep a bull in a suburban garden. My father was of yeoman stock, and had been frustrated in his dream of a small holding somewhere in the hills. He had sworn to protect from all harm the wife he idolised, and her idea of harm was the small holding-out of town as it would have had to be, and therefore, of course, out of control. When you think of it, if my father hadn't viewed my little mother with such seriousness, none of it would have happened. Under it all, he was a stubborn man, and perhaps all the more passionate for his frustrations, and certainly capable of secrecy. That is where I came in. I was to act as cover, simply by being-there. The Difference of Siblings For the purposes of this story, let's say I was Daddy's girl; though for all others I'd like to hold the statement wide open to question. It's true certainly that my mother didn't much care to have me in the house: I was slow and clumsy, and given to ask questions of the kind that prompted only one answer from someone of so practical a disposition. "Straw," she would say, and then, "Oh go outside and play." So, it seemed decided: my small sister with my mother in the house, and I, where I belonged, outside it with my father. Division of labour. I fell in nicely with their respective intentions. Before the Time It All Began I don't remember how long the garden had been there, or who had planned or planted it, or what had been the idea behind it. Was there one? I think I knew, once.