AustLit
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Joseph Furphy wrote the Australian literary classic, Such is Life, in 1903, under the pen name of ‘Tom Collins’, slang for ‘a tall story’. With its unreliable narrator travelling the countryside and telling the stories of the people he meets, the alias was certainly appropriate. His brother John, a blacksmith, created agricultural implements in Shepparton, most notably the water carts used by Australian troops during the First World War. Around these carts, stories were told, legs were pulled, rumours gathered momentum, and the term ‘furphy’ became part of the Australian lexicon.
'The Furphy Literary Award, established in 1992, became a national competition for the first time in 2020. Over 800 writers – from the established and experienced to the fresh first-timers – took up the challenge to tackle its topic of ‘Australian Life’. The Furphy Anthology 2020 features the sixteen short stories judged to be the best of the best in this year’s competition.
'This anthology includes well-known writers such as Cate Kennedy, Jenni Marazaki, Mira Robertson, Roby Todd and Jean Flynn, and emerging writers, including Ya Reeves, Thomas MacAllister, Luke Martin and Sue Osborne. They draw on their Australian experience. They’ve written about huge Murray cod and a dancing neighbour, naval tragedies and buck’s night shenanigans, old bush tailors and beekeepers, a city rendezvous and catastrophic bushfires, an incident on a school bus and a Vietnam veteran who paints to find peace. And more.
'Who doesn’t love a story – or a furphy, perhaps?' (Publication summary)
'The Furphy Literary Award, established in 1992, became a national competition for the first time in 2020. Over 800 writers – from the established and experienced to the fresh first-timers – took up the challenge to tackle its topic of ‘Australian Life’. The Furphy Anthology 2020 features the sixteen short stories judged to be the best of the best in this year’s competition.
'This anthology includes well-known writers such as Cate Kennedy, Jenni Marazaki, Mira Robertson, Roby Todd and Jean Flynn, and emerging writers, including Ya Reeves, Thomas MacAllister, Luke Martin and Sue Osborne. They draw on their Australian experience. They’ve written about huge Murray cod and a dancing neighbour, naval tragedies and buck’s night shenanigans, old bush tailors and beekeepers, a city rendezvous and catastrophic bushfires, an incident on a school bus and a Vietnam veteran who paints to find peace. And more.
'Who doesn’t love a story – or a furphy, perhaps?' (Publication summary)
Contents
* Contents derived from the
Richmond,
East Melbourne - Richmond area,
Melbourne,
Victoria,:Hardie Grant Books
, 2021 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
- Awakening, single work short story
- Pub Raffle, single work short story
- Ando Gets Plastered, single work short story
- The Mid-way Chair, single work short story
- Straining at the Leash, single work short story
- Last Drinks at Barramar, single work short story
- The Tailor of Gilgiddy Sidings, single work short story
- Waiting for Karlee, single work short story
- The Fish, single work short story
- Lay down Your Arms, single work short story
- King of Geoerge Street, single work short story
- Ed's Bus, single work short story
- Waiting for the Dog, single work short story
- Volkswagens, single work short story
- The Telling of the Bees, single work short story
- Kath ., single work short story
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Last amended 19 Mar 2024 12:44:18