AustLit

'2019 will see another Australian bicentenary, the 200th anniversary of the first book of poetry published in this country. You could be forgiven for knowing neither the book nor its author; you could probably also be forgiven for not finding the event all that worthy of memorialisation, let alone celebration. Aside from a few specialists in colonial literature and a handful of historically inclined local poets, who in contemporary Australia could possibly be interested in the (exceedingly) minor poetaster Barron Field — yes, his real name — and his First Fruits of Australian Poetry? Would Field's work be of more interest if it were crucial evidence in the establishment of terra nullius in this country?' (Publication summary)