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The Mystery of Yelcomorn Creek single work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1890... 1890 The Mystery of Yelcomorn Creek
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A strange old man tucked away in the bush tells an interesting tale of his opal-mining days in Queensland.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: The Evil of Yelcomorn Creek
Notes:
Variant title written under the pen-name of 'Coo-ee' appears in The Oxford Book of Australian Ghost Stories
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Centennial Magazine vol. 2 no. 8 March 1890 Z632372 1890 periodical issue 1890 pg. 625-630
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon When the Mopoke Calls William Sylvester Walker , London : John Long , 1898 Z420375 1898 selected work short story London : John Long , 1898 pg. 85 - 101
    Note:
      With title: The Evil of Yelcomorn Creek
      Epigraph: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. - Shakespeare
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Oxford Book of Australian Ghost Stories Ken Gelder (editor), Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1994 Z356827 1994 anthology short story crime young adult 'Did Australian ghosts suffer from a cultural cringe? Dr Ken Gelder indicates in the introduction to another fascinating OUP anthology that early ghost stories were essentially a "transported genre" that looked back to England as their source. Thus John Lang's well-known story "The Ghost upon the Rail" is based upon a case of murder for post-convict wealth. Gelder argues that Australian ghost stories possess their own ironical flavour, but the gothic tradition has to be resolved in outback locations or deserted mining towns, as in David Rowbotham's "A Schoolie and the Ghost".'

    'Gelder relies heavily on Victorian and Edwardian writers, such as Marcus Clarke, Barbara Baynton and Hume Nisbet, as if unsure as to the nature of contemporary ghosts. It is interesting to see that Australia's science fiction writers, such as Lucy Sussex and Terry Dowling, provide the link between the past and the present. Dowling's "The Daeman Street Ghost-Trap" effectively uses traditional settings to link ghosts with a current horror, namely cancer. Several bunyip stories remind us of a particular Antipodean creature to stand against the assorted European manifestations.'

    (Colin Steele, SF Commentary No 77, p.55).


         Melbourne : Oxford University Press , 1994     pg. 142-151
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Anthology of Colonial Australian Gothic Fiction Ken Gelder (editor), Rachael Weaver (editor), Carlton : Melbourne University Press , 2007 Z1415120 2007 anthology short story extract horror mystery science fiction historical fiction children's (taught in 7 units)

    'This anthology collects the best examples of Australian gothic short stories from colonial times. Demonic bird cries, grisly corpses, ghostly women and psychotic station-owners populate a colonial landscape which is the stuff of nightmares.

    'In stories by Marcus Clarke, Mary Fortune and Henry Lawson, the colonial homestead is wracked by haunted images of murder and revenge. Settlers are disoriented and traumatised as they stumble into forbidden places and explorers disappear, only to return as ghostly figures with terrible tales to tell. These compelling stories are the dark underside to the usual story of colonial progress, promise and nation-building, and reveal just how vivid the gothic imagination is at the heart of Australian fiction.' (Publication summary)

         Carlton : Melbourne University Press , 2007     pg. 203-214
    Note: With title: 'The Evil of Yelcomorn Creek'
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Last amended 29 Aug 2022 15:24:47
Subjects:
  • Bush,
  • Queensland,
  • Queensland,
Settings:
  • Bush,
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