AustLit
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Notes
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Dedication: To the memory of my mother and to the daughter who bears her name.
Contents
- The Spirit of the Bush Fire, single work children's fiction children's (p. 1-9)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Fantasising the Nation for Child Readers in Early Australian Fairy Tales
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 11 December vol. 37 no. 3 2022;'This article examines three collections of Australian fairy tales published between 1897 and 1925 and considers the ways in which they contributed to nation-building efforts. Atha Westbury’s Australian Fairy Tales (1897), J. M. Whitfeld’s The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales (1898), and Hume Cook’s Australian Fairy Tales (1925) fantasise a nation into being through the fairy-tale genre. The associations of the European fairy-tale tradition with a distant past (‘once upon a time’) are mobilised to create a ‘ready-made’ set of traditions and cultural explanations through which the implied Australian child can understand a nation that was only federated in 1901. This ranged from creating origin stories for natural landmarks like J. M. Whitfeld, through to imagining well-developed fairy cities in the most isolated parts of Australia, far from the eyes of white settlers, as in Atha Westbury and Hume Cook’s collections. Stories by Cook and Westbury blur the distinction between fairy-tale characters and First Nations people, at once yoking imported traditions to the enduring history of First Nations peoples and replacing them in the cultural imaginary with mythical characters who have never existed.' (Publication abstract)
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How Early Australian Fairy Tales Displaced Aboriginal People with Mythical Creatures and Fantasies of Empty Land
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 July 2022;'Most of us grew up reading fairy tales adapted from the European tradition: stories of kings, queens and princesses set in palaces and forests, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast. But what about the history of Australian fairy tales?'(Introduction)
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Fairies in the Bush : The Emergence of a National Identity in Australian Fairy Tales
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 43 2018;'The outpouring of national sentiment as the colonies moved towards Federation heralded a quest for the ‘Australianising’ of children’s books: fairy tales were no exception. European fairy folk were placed in, or perhaps transported to, bush settings as authors re-imagined the ways in which the emigrant old-world creatures could claim a place in the Australian environment. This paper explores efforts of the early writers to locate an Australian fairyland in the ‘bush’ and contribute to the transmission of national identity.' (Publication abstract)
- y George Lambert as Book Illustrator St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2009 Z1490168 2007 single work criticism Victor Crittenden discusses Lambert's early work illustrating books published by Angus & Robertson in Australia in the 1890s, including J. M. Whitfeld's The Spirit of the Bush Fire (1898).
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Fairytales of the 1890s
1999
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Country of Lost Children : An Australian Anxiety 1999; (p. 60-64)
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Australian Fairy Tales
1897
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 25 December vol. 55 no. 1455 1897; (p. 43)
— Review of The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales 1898 selected work children's fiction - y George Lambert as Book Illustrator St Lucia : AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2009 Z1490168 2007 single work criticism Victor Crittenden discusses Lambert's early work illustrating books published by Angus & Robertson in Australia in the 1890s, including J. M. Whitfeld's The Spirit of the Bush Fire (1898).
-
Fairytales of the 1890s
1999
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Country of Lost Children : An Australian Anxiety 1999; (p. 60-64) -
Fairies in the Bush : The Emergence of a National Identity in Australian Fairy Tales
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 43 2018;'The outpouring of national sentiment as the colonies moved towards Federation heralded a quest for the ‘Australianising’ of children’s books: fairy tales were no exception. European fairy folk were placed in, or perhaps transported to, bush settings as authors re-imagined the ways in which the emigrant old-world creatures could claim a place in the Australian environment. This paper explores efforts of the early writers to locate an Australian fairyland in the ‘bush’ and contribute to the transmission of national identity.' (Publication abstract)
-
How Early Australian Fairy Tales Displaced Aboriginal People with Mythical Creatures and Fantasies of Empty Land
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 July 2022;'Most of us grew up reading fairy tales adapted from the European tradition: stories of kings, queens and princesses set in palaces and forests, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast. But what about the history of Australian fairy tales?'(Introduction)
-
Fantasising the Nation for Child Readers in Early Australian Fairy Tales
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 11 December vol. 37 no. 3 2022;'This article examines three collections of Australian fairy tales published between 1897 and 1925 and considers the ways in which they contributed to nation-building efforts. Atha Westbury’s Australian Fairy Tales (1897), J. M. Whitfeld’s The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales (1898), and Hume Cook’s Australian Fairy Tales (1925) fantasise a nation into being through the fairy-tale genre. The associations of the European fairy-tale tradition with a distant past (‘once upon a time’) are mobilised to create a ‘ready-made’ set of traditions and cultural explanations through which the implied Australian child can understand a nation that was only federated in 1901. This ranged from creating origin stories for natural landmarks like J. M. Whitfeld, through to imagining well-developed fairy cities in the most isolated parts of Australia, far from the eyes of white settlers, as in Atha Westbury and Hume Cook’s collections. Stories by Cook and Westbury blur the distinction between fairy-tale characters and First Nations people, at once yoking imported traditions to the enduring history of First Nations peoples and replacing them in the cultural imaginary with mythical characters who have never existed.' (Publication abstract)