Best Australian Short Stories (42 page)

DAVISON, Frank Dalby, 1893–1970. Born in Melbourne, worked on the land in Victoria until 1908 when the family moved to the United States. In 1914, when World War I broke out, he was working as a ship’s printer on a vessel sailing between New York and the Caribbean; he took ship to England and enlisted, serving first as a cavalryman, then in the infantry. Soldier settler in Queensland after the war; printed his first books,
Forever Morning
and
Man-Shy
, in a magazine, the
Australian,
started by his father. For some years he was a literary critic for the
Bulletin.

DYSON, Edward, 1865–1931. Born near Ballarat, Victoria; his father was a mining engineer. After a variety of jobs in the bush, in mining, and in a factory in Melbourne, he became a freelance writer, publishing bush ballads in
Rhymes from the Mines
, lively books of city stories in
Fact’ry ’Ands
and
Benno and Some of the Push
, and several novels.

EDMOND, James, 1859–1933. Born at Glasgow. He came to Australia in 1882 and joined the staff of the
Bulletin
in 1886, becoming associate editor with J. F. Archibald in 1890, and, from 1903 to 1915, editor. Chiefly a political writer, he also wrote verse, essays, and short stories, mostly humorous.

GYE, Hal (“James Hackston”), 1888–1967. Born in Ryde, N.S.W., educated at Black Range (now Lavington) N.S.W. Was the illustrator of C. J. Dennis’s
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke
(1915). He made a separate career for himself as a short story writer in the
Bulletin
in the 1930s and 19405, publishing his first story in 1937.

HACKSTON, James.
See
Gye, Hal.

JAMES, BRIAN.
See
Tierney, John.

LAWSON, Henry, 1867–1922. Born on the Grenfell (N.S.W.) gold-diggings, the son of a Norwegian master mariner who turned digger, carpenter and settler. His mother was a feminist and journalist, Louisa Lawson. Henry Lawson was educated at Eurunderee Public School, and worked at various jobs including farming, coach-painting, house-painting, journalism and schoolteaching. In 1888 his first published story, “His Father’s Mate”, appeared in the
Bulletin
. Except for brief intervals, he lived in Sydney from 1902 till his death. His bush ballads are highly regarded but his greatest work was in his short stories, of which the most comprehensive collection is in the three volumes edited by Cecil Mann.

LINDSAY, Norman, 1879–1969. Born in Creswick, Victoria, the son of a doctor. Worked as a freelance black-and-white artist in Melbourne, then in 1901 was invited by J. F. Archibald to come to Sydney and draw for the
Bulletin
. Lived in Sydney, and in later years the nearby Blue Mountains, except for travels in Europe and America. Best known as an artist in many media, including etchings, pen-drawings, water-colours, and oils, but also well known as a novelist.

MANN, Cecil (1896–1967). Born at Cudgen, New South Wales; educated in State schools. Was with the A.I.F. on Gallipoli and in France during World War I. Later worked as a reporter on country newspapers in New South Wales and on the
Sydney Morning Herald
. Was on the literary staff of the
Bulletin
from 1925 until his retirement in 196o. Published a collection of short stories,
The River
(1945), and a novel,
Light in the Valley
(1946); edited the three-volume
Stories of Henry Lawson
(1964),
Henry Lawson’s Best Stories
(1966), and
Henry Lawson’s Humorous Storie
s (1967).

MARSHALL, Alan. Born at Noorat, Victoria, in 1902; educated at Terang, Victoria. Was a freelance journalist, and worked for the Army Education Service during World War II. Was a Commonwealth Literary Fund Fellow in 1954. Publications include two collections of stories,
These Are My Peopl
e (1944) and
Tell Us About the Turkey, Jo
(1946); a novel,
How Beautiful Are Thy Feet
(1949); a collection of Aboriginal myths,
People of the Dreamtime
(1952): and three volumes of autobiography.

McCRAE, Hugh, 1876–1958. Born in Melbourne, the son of the poet George Gordon McCrae. Educated at Hawthorn Grammar School, and worked in Melbourne and Sydney as freelance writer and illustrator. After acting in plays in New York and in a film in Australia, he lived at Camden, N.S.W., and afterwards in Sydney. Best known as a lyric poet. His fantastic short stories were printed in book form, along with other examples of his prose, in
Story-book Only.

MORRISON, John. Born at Sunderland, England, in 1904; came to Australia in 1923. Has worked as gardener, station-hand, and wharf-labourer. Was a Commonwealth Literary Fund Fellow in 1947 and 1949. Has published two novels,
The Creeping City
(1949) and
Port of Call (
1950); and three collections of stories,
Sailors Belong Ships
(1947),
Black Cargo
(1955), and
Twenty-Three
(1962).

PATERSON, A. B. (“Banjo”), 1864–1941. Born near Orange, N.S.W., brought up on a sheep station near Yass, educated at Sydney Gratrimar School. Became a lawyer, then journalist; war correspondent in South Africa in 1899; editor S
ydney Evening News
1904 and
Town and Country Journal
1907. Attained the rank of major in World War I, as Remount Officer to the A.I.F. in Egypt. Best known for his excellent bush ballads.

PENN-SMITH, Frank, 1863–1935. Born in England and came to Tasmania in 1880. Prospected in mining ventures in Tasmania and New South Wales; left Australia for South Africa in 1905, returning to Tasmania for some years in 1922, when he went back to England. His adventurous life is told in a vivid autobiography,
The Unexpected
(1933).

PRICHARD, Katharine Susannah, 1884–1969. Born at Levuka, Fiji, the daughter of T. H. Prichard, journalist and writer. She was brought to Australia in her infancy and lived at Launceston, Tasmania, afterwards in Melbourne, where she was educated at South Melbourne College. Lived in London for six years as a freelance writer and in I9I9 married Captain Hugo Throssell, V.C. Author of many novels, including
Coonardoo, Working Bullocks,
and a trilogy on the W.A. goldfields.

ROBINSON, Les, 1885—Born in Paddington, Sydney, “and have never been more than 100 miles away from it. I was born with the artistic temperament. My mother was a musician. My boyhood’s days were as happy as could be. We lived at the seaside. When it was time (high time) I thought about helping to do the work of the world, I tried a number of different occupations. I worked in warehouses and offices. I had begun to try to teach myself to write and used to contribute pars (nature-notes mostly), short sketches, etc., in lighter vein to
Lilley’s
and the
Bulletin.
”

ROWBOTHAM, David. Born at Toowoomba, Queensland, in 1925; educated at Toowoomba Grammar School, the State Teachers’ College, and at the universities of Queensland and Sydney. Served with the RAAF in the South-west Pacific and, after World War II, entered journalism. After travelling in Europe, worked on the
Brisbane Courier-Mail
, of which he was Arts Editor. Has published six books of verse; a collection of stories and sketches,
Town and City
(1956); and a novel, T
he Man in the Jungle
(1964).

ROWLANDS, Lesley. Born at Carcoar, New South Wales, in 1925; educated at Sydney schools and at Sydney University, where she graduated in Arts in 1950. Spent four years abroad; now works for the Commonwealth Office of Education. Publications include two books about her experiences abroad,
Why Can’t the English?
(1959) and
On Top of the World
(1961), and a novel,
A Bird in the Hand
(1965), Her short stories have appeared in various magazines and anthologies.

SCHLUNKE, E. 0., 1906–1960. Born near Temora, N.S.W., descended from German Lutheran immigrants, about whom he wrote in many of his stories and novels. He farmed his own property in the Riverina district.
Stories of the Riverina
, a memorial collection of his short stories with an introduction by Clement Semmler, was published in 1966.

STEWART, Douglas. Born at Eltham, New Zealand, in 1913; educated at New Plymouth Boys’ High School and Victoria University College. From 1939 to 1961, when he joined the editorial staff of Angus and Robertson, was editor of the Red Page of the
Bulletin
. Married to artist Margaret Coen. Best known as a poet and dramatist, he has published several books of verse; the verse plays
Ned Kelly
(1943),
Fire on the Snow
(1944)
The Golden Lover
(1944), and
Shipwreck
(1947) a collection of short stories,
A Girl with Red Hair
(1944); and a book of essays about trout-fishing,
The Seven Rivers
(1966).

STIVENS, Dal. Born at Blayney, New South Wales, in 1911; educated at Barker College, Sydney. Worked on the
Sydney Daily Telegraph
from 1939 to 1942, in the Army Education Service and the Department of Information during World War’ II, and later as Press Officer at Australia House in London. Publications include three novels,
Jimmy Brockett
(1951),
The Wide Arch (
1958) and
A Horse of Air
(1970); and several story collections,
The Tramp and Gambling Ghost and Other Tales
(1953),
lronbark Bill (
1955),
The Scholarly Mouse and Other Tales
(1957) and
Selected Stories 1936-1968
(1969).

TIERNEY, John (“Brian James”), 1892, Born at Eurunderee, N.S.W., the son of the schoolteacher who taught Henry Lawson. Took his M.A. at the University of Sydney, gained a Diploma of Education at Oxford and became a schoolteacher, at various periods teaching English at Fort Street and Hornebush High Schools, Sydney. Also, at one period, lived on the land as an orchardist. He is the author of the novels
The Advancement of Spencer Button
and
Hopeton High,
and of four books of short stories, including
The Big Burn
(1966), a selection with an introduction by Norman Lindsay.

WRIGHT, Judith (Mrs J. P. McKinney). Born at Thalgarrah, near Armidale, New South Wales, in 1915; educated at New England Girls’ School and the University of Sydney. After a year abroad, worked at various secretarial jobs, and later as a statistician at the University of Queensland. One of Australia’s best known poets, she has published several volumes of verse; a biography
, Generations of Men
(1959);
Preoccupations in Australian Poetr
y (1965); a book of short stories,
The Nature of Love
(1966); and a number of books for children.

PARTICULAR acknowledgment is due to the
Bulletin
, in which many of the stories were first published, and to the Mitchell Library, Sydney.

“The Drover’s Wife” and “The Bush Undertaker” reprinted from
The Stories of Henry Lawson
, edited by Cecil Mann (Angus and Robertson, 1964).

“A Golden Shanty” and “A Visit to Scrubby Gully” reprinted from
Below and on Top,
by Edward Dyson (Geo. Robertson, 1898).

“The Deeply Poetic Account of a Midsummer Night’s Idyll” reprinted from
A Journalist and Two Bears
, by James Edmond (Platypus Press, 1913).

“Piety’s Monument” reprinted from
Hang!,
by Frank Penn-Smith (Chatto and Windus, 1925).

“The Cast-iron Canvasser” reprinted from
Three Elephant Power and Other Stories
, by A. B. Paterson (Angus and Robertson, 19,7).

“Wharf Labourers”, by Robert Brothers, was originally published in the
Bulletin
, 1914.

“The Outcasts” reprinted from
Saturdee
, by Norman Lindsay (Ure Smith Pty. Ltd., 1961).

“Adventure” reprinted from
Story-book Only
, by Hugh McCrae (Angus and Robertson, 1948).

“The Duel” reprinted from
An Anzac Muster
, by William Baylebridge, privately printed in 1921, by permission of The Perpetual Trustee Co. Ltd., Sydney.

“The Cooboo” reprinted from
Kiss on the Lips
, by Katharine Susannah Prichard (Cape, 1932).

“The Vine-dweller”, by Les Robinson, reprinted from
Coast to Coast 1957–58
(Angus and Robertson, 1958). “Song of the Flea” is reprinted from
The Giraffe’s Uncle
, by Les Robinson (Macquarie Head Press, 1933).

“The Enthusiastic Prisoner” reprinted from
The Man in the Silo
, by E.O. Schlunke (Angus and Robertson, 1955).

“Jacob’s Escape” reprinted from First Furrow, by Brian James (Clarendon Publishing Co., 1944).

“Our New Properties” and “Father Clears Out” reprinted from
Father Clears Out
, by James Hackston (Angus and Robertson, 1966).

“The Road to Yesterday” is reprinted from
The Road to Yesterday
, by Frank Dalby Davison (Angus and Robertson, 1964).

“The Rector’s Wife Tempts the Bishop with a Brew of Nyppe” reprinted from
At Parramatta
, by Ethel Anderson (F. W. Cheshire, 1956).

“The Persimmon-tree” reprinted from
The Persimmon Tree and Other Stories
, by Marjorie Barnard (Clarendon Publishing Co., 1943). Originally published in the
Home magazine.

“Come On, Billy” is reprinted from
Evening Under Lamplight
, by David Campbell (Angus and Robertson, 1959). Originally published in the
Bulletin
.

“That at Day at Brown Lakes” reprinted from It’s
Harder for Girls
, by Gavin Casey (Angus and Robertson, 1942). Originally published in the
Bulletin.

“The Pilgrimage Year” is reprinted from
An Afternoon of Time,
by D. E. Charlwood (Angus and Robertson, 1966). Originally published in
Blackwood’s Magazine
.

“The Tractor” reprinted from
The Empty Street,
by Peter Cowan (Angus and Robertson, 1965). Originally published in
Meanjin Quarterly.

“The Pelican” reprinted from
The River and Other Stories,
by Cecil Mann (Dymock’s Book Arcade, 1945). Originally published in the
Bulletin.

“Trees Can Speak” reprinted from
These Are My People
, by Alan Mar shall (F. W. Cheshire, 1944).