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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Wanda, an Aboriginal girl makes it in the tough city counter culture of the mid-sixties and early seventies. Writing song lyrics and working odd jobs she travels between cities, passing a sardonic eye on the hippie culture around her.
Notes
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Published as the autobiography of an Aboriginal women, this work won the Nita May Dobbie Award for women writers before being revealed as a hoax in March 1997. Its actual creators were neither women nor Aboriginal. Leon Carmen and his literary agent John Bayley give their account of the hoax in Bayley's Daylight Corroboree, and Carmen's article 'Wanda and Me' .
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Epigraph: I look as if I'm winning because I am alive but I am in the same night as you. (Albert Camus, Notebooks)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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The Top Four Literary Hoaxes
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 5 - 6 May 2012; (p. 4) -
The Trial of Andrew Bolt : II : Real Aborigines Verses Phoneys
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , December vol. 54 no. 12 2010; (p. 20-25) 'The decision by a group of Aboriginal political activists to sue Andrew Bolt in the Federal Court for racial vilification is a surprising one that may backfire in ways they hadn’t expected. The case itself cannot avoid examining closely what constitutes Aboriginal identity. The minute that question is opened for serious discussion there are awkward political issues that follow. In fact, with a constitutional amendment currently being flagged by the Gillard government, this case may provide an opportunity to bring the vexed question of Aboriginal identity out into the open. Moreover, depending on the outcome of the case, it could provide a green light for the emergence of many more claimants who other Aborigines regard as completely phoney.' (p. 20) -
Aboriji'nariti saikō
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Eigo Seinen/Rising Generation , February vol. 154 no. 11 2009; (p. 646) -
Great Literary Frauds
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 15 September 2007; (p. 37) -
Home and (Taken) Away
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Regenerative Spirit : Volume 2 : (Un)settling, (Dis)locations, (Post-)colonial, (Re)presentations - Australian Post-Colonial Reflections 2004; (p. 141-149) Hosking compares the life stories of two Aboriginal women raised at Colebrook home in South Australia, noting the different ways in which they perceived their removal from their families, and the differences in the public reception of their stories.
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Untitled
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 9 no. 1 1995; (p. 22)
— Review of My Own Sweet Time 1994 single work novel -
The Perky Spirit of a Talented Survivor
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 12 March 1995; (p. 22)
— Review of My Own Sweet Time 1994 single work novel -
A Positive New Voice
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 169 1995; (p. 28)
— Review of My Own Sweet Time 1994 single work novel -
A Picaresque Ride with a Shrewd Innocent
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8 April 1995; (p. 11A)
— Review of My Own Sweet Time 1994 single work novel ; The Dead Heart 1994 single work novel -
Tribes that Bind
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 22-23 April 1995; (p. rev 10)
— Review of My Own Sweet Time 1994 single work novel ; Bulmurn : A Swan River Nyoongar : A Novel 1994 single work novel -
Writing Wrongs
1997
single work
column
biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 March 1997; (p. 38) -
Duped Publisher Calls in Lawyers
1997
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 15-16 March 1997; (p. 3) -
Award-Winning Aboriginal Author Outs 'Herself' as White Male
Andrew Stevenson
,
Ava Hubble
,
1997
single work
column
biography
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 13 March 1997; (p. 1-2) The Courier-Mail , 13 March 1997; (p. 1,4) The Daily Telegraph , 13 March 1997; (p. 1,8,9) -
Another Australian Literary Hoax? You Bet Your Sweet Time
1997
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 14 March 1997; (p. 3) -
Whitefella's Words
1997
single work
column
biography
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 15 March 1997; (p. 3) The Courier-Mail , 15 March 1997; (p. 27)
Awards
- 1996 winner Kibble Literary Awards — Nita May Dobbie Award Nita May Dobbie Award prize money was later retrieved from the author after it was revealed that 'Wanda Koolmatrie' was a hoax perpetrated by Leon Carmen and his literary agent John Bayley.
Last amended 18 Oct 2013 15:48:22
Subjects:
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- Adelaide, South Australia,
Settings:
- 1960-1970
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