AustLit logo
NLA image of person
Louis Becke Louis Becke i(A58574 works by) (a.k.a. George Lewis Becke; Lewis Becke)
Also writes as: Louis B. ; L. B. ; Tom Denison ; Ula Tula ; Te Matau ; Malie ; Papalagi ; Faifeau
Born: Established: 18 Jun 1855 Port Macquarie, Port Macquarie area, Hastings River area, Mid North Coast, New South Wales, ; Died: Ceased: 18 Feb 1913 Sydney, New South Wales,
Gender: Male
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.

Works By

Preview all
1 [Review Essay] Position Doubtful: Mapping Landscapes and Memories Tom Denison , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Archives and Manuscripts , vol. 45 no. 3 2017; (p. 261-262)

'In Position Doubtful Kim Mahood, a Canberra-based visual artist and teacher, describes how since 2004 she has travelled each year to spend time in Mulan, a Walmajarri community in Western Australia, close to the Mongrel Downs station where she spent her childhood, and which has since been returned to the traditional owners. An intensely personal memoir, she describes how she grew up between two cultures. Her interest lies in exploring ‘what happens when the unconscious mind experiences a fundamental displacement … when the body feels an almost cellular affinity to a place that has been constructed by a different cultural imagination’ (p. 296). The result is a book that is fascinating on many levels, but is particularly valuable for the insights it brings to themes relevant to those working in archives and memory institutions – issues such as identity, memory, the meaning and interpretation of records (maps in particular), the importance of place, and cross-cultural relations.'  (Introduction)

1 Lupton's Ghost : A Memory of the Eastern Pacific Louis Becke , 2007 single work short story horror
— Appears in: Australian Gothic : An Anthology of Australian Supernatural Fiction, 1867-1939 2007; (p. 156-170) Australian Ghost Stories 2010;
1 y separately published work icon Bad Colonists : The South Seas Letters of Vernon Lee Walker and Louis Becke Louis Becke , Vernon Lee Walker , Nicholas Thomas (editor), Richard Eves (editor), Durham : Duke University Press , 1999 Z519656 1999 anthology correspondence criticism Contains letters from Louis Becke and Vernon Lee Walker, addressed mainly to their mothers. The editors' preface describes the book as 'a work of experimental history' exploring, firstly, the degeneration of the self in tropical environments 'beyond civility' nnd, secondly, the significance of personal letters in 'self-fashioning'. The letters are accompanied by extensive commentary.
1 [Untitled] Louis Becke , 1989 extract novella (The Pearl Divers of Roncador Reef)
— Appears in: North of Capricorn : An Anthology of Prose 1989; (p. 34-37)
1 Saunderson and the Devilfish Louis Becke , 1967 single work short story
— Appears in: South Sea Supercargo 1967; (p. 167 - 175)
Saunderson is convinced that harpooning a devilfish (stingray) is an easy matter.
1 Saunderson and the Dynamite Louis Becke , 1967 single work short story
— Appears in: South Sea Supercargo 1967; (p. 163 - 166)
Saunderson, a man who believes he knows everything, refuses advice from Denison about handling dynamite. The results are catastrophic.
2 6 y separately published work icon South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , A. Grove Day (editor), Brisbane : Jacaranda Press , 1967 Z539022 1967 selected work short story A collection of stories, some of which feature Becke's alter ego, Tom Denison. Others are apparently based on his one-time employer in Apia, Mrs Mary Macfarlane, and the blackbirder 'Bully' Hayes, as well as other characters he encountered in his Pacific wanderings. The stories draw heavily on Becke's own experiences and certainly have autobiographical components but they are not, as Professor Day's introduction implies, autobiographical in the strictest sense of the word.
1 At a Kava-Drinking Louis Becke , 1964 single work short story
— Appears in: Best South Sea stories 1964;
1 An Old Australian Privateering Adventure Louis Becke , 1932 single work short story historical fiction
— Appears in: The Cloncurry Advocate , 24 December 1932; (p. 3)
1 y separately published work icon Tales from the South Seas Tales of the South Seas Louis Becke , George Mackaness , London : Nelson , 1929 Z198759 1929 selected work short story
1 The Great Crushing at Mount Sugar-Bag Louis Becke , 1928 single work short story
— Appears in: Stories of the South Seas 1928;
1 By Reef and Palm : The Lure of the South Seas in Literature Louis Becke , 1924 single work criticism
— Appears in: John O'London's Weekly , 5 April 1924;
1 'Pep,' the Ugly Louis Becke , 1920 single work short story
— Appears in: The Sydney Mail , 15 September 1920; (p. 12)
1 2 y separately published work icon Bully Hayes : Buccaneer, and Other Stories Louis Becke , Sydney : N.S.W. Bookstall Company , 1913 Z176109 1913 selected work short story
1 Louis Becke Louis Becke , 1913 single work column
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 27 February vol. 34 no. 1724 1913; (p. 2)
1 The Prospector Louis Becke , 1913 single work short story
— Appears in: Bully Hayes : Buccaneer, and Other Stories 1913; (p. 141 - 166)
A gold prospector devises a plan to rescue a woman from her abusive husband.
1 Jimmy Lemon, Pirate Louis Becke , 1913 single work short story
— Appears in: Bully Hayes : Buccaneer, and Other Stories 1913; (p. 125 - 140)
When his ship puts into Palau for repairs the supercargo meets an old man living alone on the island. The man invites him for supper and relates the story of his life as a pirate.
1 Tarria, the Swimmer Louis Becke , 1913 single work short story
— Appears in: Bully Hayes : Buccaneer, and Other Stories 1913; (p. 99 - 112)
Watson, a trader, sets out in a canoe to return to his own island, Nanomaga, when the people there signal they are in trouble. He is accompanied by a man from the Ellice Island (now Tuvalu), Tassia of Onotoa. On the way Watson falls ill from poisoned gin, sold to him by a rival trader, and Tassia swims to Nanomaga to raise the alarm, but is attacked and killed by a shark just as he gets there. Some years later Watson gets revenge on his enemy.
1 A Bar of Common Soap Louis Becke , 1913 single work short story
— Appears in: Bully Hayes : Buccaneer, and Other Stories 1913; (p. 82 - 98) South Sea Supercargo 1967; (p. 124 - 134)
Tom Denison, a trader, has discovered the secret of making a remarkable type of soap. His rival, a German trader, is driven mad with the desire to obtain the secret, with tragic results.
1 The Glory of the Gale Louis Becke , 1913 single work short story
— Appears in: Bully Hayes : Buccaneer, and Other Stories 1913; (p. 37 - 81)
Two men and a woman become fugitives after an attempted abduction of one of the men's former lovers goes wrong.
X