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Notes
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The five poems published in the second enlarged edition of First Fruits of Australian Poetry are later included in Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales (1825), edited by Barron Field. The 1825 source includes a sixth poem, 'In Answer to Those of Mr. Montgomery Addressed to George Bennet, Esq. on His Visit to the South Seas, Deputed by the London Missionary Society'.
Contents
- Botany-Bay Flowersi"God of this planet! for that name best fits", single work poetry
- The Kangaroo Kangarooi"Kangaroo! Kangaroo!", single work poetry
- On Reading the Controversy Between Lord Byron and Mr Bowlesi"Whether a ship's poetic? - Bowles would own,", single work poetry
- On Affixing a Tablet to the Memory of Captain Cook, and Sir Joseph Banks, Against the Rock of Their First Landing in Botany Bayi"I have been musing what our Banks had said,", single work poetry
- On Visiting the Spot Where Captain Cook, and Sir Joseph Banks, First Landed in Botany Bayi"Here fix the tablet:-This must be the place", single work poetry
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Barron Field in New South Wales : The Poetics of Terra Nullius
Melbourne
:
Melbourne University Press
,
2023
25544651
2023
single work
biography
'What does the first poetry in Australia, written by the Judge who declared the land terra nullius, tell us about the singular nature of colonialism here?
'On 24 February 1817, Barron Field sailed into Sydney Harbour on the convict transport Lord Melville to a ceremonial thirteen-gun salute. He was there as the new Judge of the Supreme Court of Civil Judicature in New South Wales - the highest legal authority in the turbulent colony. Energetic and gregarious, Field immediately set about impressing his vision of a future Australia as a liberal and prosperous nation. He courted the colony's leading figures, engaged in scientific research and even founded Australia's first bank. He also wrote poetry: in 1819, he published First Fruits of Australian Poetry, the first book of poems ever printed in the country. In England, Field had been the theatre critic for The Times, and a friend of such major Romantic writers as William Wordsworth, Charles Lamb and Leigh Hunt. In New South Wales, he saw the chance to become a major figure himself…' (Publication summary)
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The Voice and the Canon
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 18 June 2022; (p. 17)'Literature by Indigenous Australians - the voice from the heart - is the true core of the Australian canon, writes Geordie Williamson The ur-text of the Australian canon appeared just over two centuries ago, in 1819, when First Fruits of Australian Poetry by Barron Field, a Supreme Court judge of New South Wales with literary pretensions, was published in Sydney.' (Introduction)
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First Fruits of a Barron Field
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Critical Quarterly , April vol. 61 no. 1 2019; (p. 18-36)'In Australian literature, Barron Field is at once marginal and foundational. His usual claim to fame is that in 1819 he published the first book of poetry in Australia, a collection entitled First Fruits of Australian Poetry and comprised of two poems, which he then republished with four further poems in 1823. Notably, the book was self‐published using the official government printer, and bears on its title page the declaration ‘For Private Distribution’.' (Introduction)
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Barron Field’s Terra Nullius Operation
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 65 2019; 'Barron Field, who is today a largely forgotten figure, was from 1817 to 1824 the highest judge in New South Wales. His place in literary history rests on his First Fruits of Australian Poetry of 1819, which, as the title announces, was the first book of poetry to be published in this country. But by most accounts Field was a mediocre judge and a worse poet. John McLaren writes of the legal career that ‘Field’s record as a judge could best be described as mercurial, a reflection of his conservative belief system, a commitment to the culture of English law, and an opportunistic streak in his character…. Field’s counsel was not invariably sound or in keeping with the Colonial Office’s understanding of the legal proprieties’ (144). As for his poetry, even the colonial anthologists were wary of Field’s inclusion, although Vivian Smith has more recently been generous enough to judge Field’s poem ‘The Kangaroo’ to be ‘an exuberant oddity’ (74). Field also appears in a number of historical studies of colonial science and culture, where he tends however to remain a minor and rather ambiguous figure (Bernard Smith; Carter).' (Introduction) -
Vicarious Verse
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 14-15 May 2016; (p. 17) The world’s most-read poetry journal is dedicating its latest edition to Australia. Here, Jaya Savige reflects on the monsters, fakes and thefts at work in the nation’s literary scene
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The First Fruits of Australasian Poetry
1821
single work
review
— Appears in: New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal , June vol. 1 no. 1821; (p. 682-686)
— Review of First Fruits of Australian Poetry 1819 selected work poetry -
Review of Judge Field's Poetry
1826
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Gazette, and New South Wales Advertiser , 25 November vol. 24 no. 1262 1826; (p. 3)
— Review of First Fruits of Australian Poetry 1819 selected work poetry -
Untitled
1820
single work
review
— Appears in: The Examiner , 16 January 1820; (p. 39-40)
— Review of First Fruits of Australian Poetry 1819 selected work poetry -
Out of England : Literary Subjectivity in the Australian Colonies, 1788-1867
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Imagining Australia : Literature and Culture in the New New World 2004; (p. 3-21) Modern Australian Criticism and Theory 2010; (p. 61-72) '...During traces the formation and transformation of 'modern literary subjectivity' in the distinctive conditions of nineteenth century Australia.' Source: Modern Australian Criticism and Theory (2010) -
The Beginnings of Australian Poetry 1 : Editorial Notes
1920
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Birth : A Little Journal of Australian Poetry , October vol. 4 no. 47 1920; (p. 86-88) -
Los primeros poetas
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Hontanar , November no. 92 2006; (p. 2-3) -
Satirising White Australia in Christina Stead’s For Love Alone
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012; 'Christina Stead's For Love Alone is an iconic text in Australian literary studies, but until now, few critics have addressed the novel's treatment of colonialism and race relations. Feminist critics have played an important role in preserving Stead's reputation, and for this reason, most critical discussions of For Love Alone focus on its gender politics. This criticism generally regards Stead's protagonist, Teresa Hawkins, as a feminist heroine engaged in a struggle against patriarchy. This ideological approach is a valuable corrective to more autobiographical readings of For Love Alone, which treat the novel, rather reductively, as an account of Stead's personal experiences or as an expression of her 'private mythology'. Yet I argue that in taking Teresa for a heroine, feminist scholars do not sufficiently recognise Teresa's status as an object of satire. In this article, I highlight Stead's sharply satiric portrayal of Teresa as a narcissist, whose voyage of discovery ironically highlights her inability to learn or to change. I contend that Teresa's journey to London reveals her affinities with the regressive, racist ideology of her father and her love object, Jonathan Crow. In her self-appointed role as an 'Australian Ulysses', Teresa demonstrates the links between Australian nationalism, imperialism and racist ideologies. Without disputing the importance of feminist themes in the novel, I propose a new reading of For love alone as a complex work of postcolonial satire.' (Author's abstract)
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Barron Field and the Translation of Romanticism to Colonial Australia
1998
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: Southerly , Summer vol. 58 no. 4 1998-1999; (p. 157-174) Cousins argues that Field's poetry should be read as an expression of the impossibility of imposing a Wordsworthian Romantic view on the Antipodes. Because Field cannot impose a Wordsworthian vision of nature on Australia, he replaces it with a ludic Romanticism that produces a vision of nature that is "paradoxical or hybrid".