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Christmas Day in Central Australia extract   prose   children's  
Issue Details: First known date: 1913... 1913 Christmas Day in Central Australia
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Giles describes the environment at Fort Mueller and the events of Christmas Day, 1873. The camp suffers an attack by 'a pack of fiends in human form and of aboriginal appearance'. Whilst acknowledging that his group of 'white-faced wretches' have deprived the indigenous people of food and land, Giles supports the firing of rifles in self-defence. Following the battle, The explorers enjoy a Christmas dinner of wallaby chops, damper and tea (having eaten their Christmas pudding two days earlier).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Christmas Day, 1873
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The School Paper for Grades VII and VIII no. 170 December 1913 Z1557208 1913 periodical issue children's 1913 pg. 180-183
    Note: With portrait of Ernest Giles and illus. from Giles's Australia Twice Traversed: 'The Party Attacked by Aboriginals at Fort Mueller'.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon North of the Ten Commandments : A Collection of Northern Territory Literature David Headon (editor), Rydalmere : Hodder and Stoughton , 1991 Z54431 1991 anthology poetry short story prose correspondence extract

    'The writers and story-tellers included in this collection relate an important, even epic tale. They tell a story which in 1988 (white Australia's bicentennial year) rarely received attention because, while it tells of courage and love, it also focuses on killing and conquest, eccentricity and madness, and a land as hostile and murderous as it could be gentle and caring...' (Source: Preface)

         Rydalmere : Hodder and Stoughton , 1991     pg. 237-238
    Note: With title: Christmas Day, 1873.
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Last amended 23 Feb 2009 11:25:38
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