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y separately published work icon The Australian Crisis single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1908... 1908 The Australian Crisis
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

This novel about a Japanese invasion of Australia was written by Charles H. Kirmess. The story was originally published as a serial in The Lone Hand (Sydney) from October 1908 to August 1909, under the title of “The Commonwealth Crisis”; it was then published in book form in 1909 as The Australian Crisis by Thomas Lothian (Melbourne), George Robertson (Melbourne), and by the Walter Scott Publishing Company (London).

On the Web

Notes

  • There are striking similarities in certain sections of The Big Five and The Australian Crisis. Both novels appeared in Lone Hand at about the same time. It is possible that C. H. Kirmess is a pseudonym used by Ambrose Pratt.
  • The George Robertson, Lothian and Walter Scott editions each have the date 'First impression, April, 1909' printed on the verso and were all printed by Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome. A Catalogue of Books Published by Thomas C. Lothian, 100 Flinders Street, Melbourne (1912), bound with the Lothian edition, was also printed by Butler & Tanner (Frome and London). The George Robertson edition has a different cover. The appropriate publisher's name was embossed on the spine of each edition.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: The Commonwealth Crisis
First known date: 1908
Serialised by: The Lone Hand 1907 periodical (213 issues)
Notes:
Published in serialised format with title The Commonwealth Crisis in Lone Hand in 11 monthly instalments between October 1908 and August 1909
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Walter Scott Publishers ,       1909 .
      Extent: 335p.
      Note/s:
      • First impression, April, 1909 (verso).
      • With a preface by the author explaining the historical context of the novel.
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: George Robertson , 1909 .
      Link: 8491601Full text document AustLit Full Text Link: 9448641Full text PDF
      Extent: 335p.
      Note/s:
      • First impression, April, 1909 (verso).
      • With a preface by the author explaining the historical context of the novel.
      • According to correspondence between Kirmess and Thomas Lothian, this edition published by George Robertson & Company was probably the first Australian edition, but may not have been released until late May 1909. (Correspondence, 1908-1910, NLA MS 7767. Photocopies. Originals held by the State Library of Victoria at MS 6026 (Box 2).)
      • Digitised by AustLit in cooperation with SETIS, 2003.
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Lothian , 1912 .
      Extent: 335p.
      Note/s:
      • First impression, April, 1909 (verso).
      • With a preface by the author explaining the historical context of the novel.
      • Bound with: A Catalogue of Books Published by Thomas C. Lothian, 100 Flinders Street, Melbourne. (October, 1912)
      • No publisher or place of publication appears on the title page or verso of this edition. Although the verso has the date April, 1909, this may be a reissue by Lothian in 1912.
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Related Works

y separately published work icon The Big Five Ambrose Pratt , 1907-1908 Z919764 1907-1908 single work novel

'Ambrose Pratt's novel, The Big Five (1911), was one of several 'invasion' narratives written by contributors to The Lone Hand. It begins at the 'centre' of Australian civility by invoking the discourse of mateship.

'Having fallen on hard times, a gang of mates known as the Big Five come together for a last drink at the Australia Hotel in Sydney when Sir Philip Trevor invites them to form an expedition to Arnhem Land. This trope is conventional in imperialist romance, recalling the meeting of Allan Quartermain, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good in King Solomon's Mines (1886). The expedition will rejuvenate a threatened masculinity, saving the Big Five from the unmanly fate of stewing in a city office.'

Source: Lawson, Alan and Chris Tiffin. De-Scribing Empire: Post-Colonialism and Textuality. Routledge, 1994. p. 135.
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

Charles Kirmess : Man of Mystery Philippa Scarlett , 2018 single work biography
— Appears in: Unbound : The National Library of Australia Magazine , March 2018; 'Philippa Scarlett asks the question ‘Who was Charles Kirmess?’ and finds answers, and more questions, in the collections of the National Library of Australia.' 
Invasion and the Politics of Belonging in Pat Grant's Blue Felicity Castagna , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Scholar , vol. 3 no. 1 2014; In this essay, Felicity Castagna notes 'the long history of invasion narratives in Australian literature, and how they served to reify the governmental belonging of White Australians inciting nationalism and encouraging vigilance in relation to migration and national security.' (From introduction)
Australian Science Fiction : In Search of the 'Feel' Dorotta Guttfeld , 2007-2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Zeitschrift fur Australienstudien , no. 21-22 2007-2008; (p. 65-72)
The Scared Who Want to Scare : Fear of a Japanese Invasion in Australian Literature Megumi Kato , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Complicities : Connections and Divisions : Perspectives on Literatures and Cultures of the Asia-Pacific Region 2003; (p. 43-51)
Invasion Graham Stone , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Notes on Australian Science Fiction 2001; (p. 124-125)
— Review of The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story Joyce Vincent , 1903 single work novel ; The Awakening G. D. Mitchell , 1937 single work novel ; The Australian Crisis C. H. Kirmess , 1908 single work novel ; The Coloured Conquest Rata , 1904 single work novel
Invasion Graham Stone , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Notes on Australian Science Fiction 2001; (p. 124-125)
— Review of The Celestial Hand : A Sensational Story Joyce Vincent , 1903 single work novel ; The Awakening G. D. Mitchell , 1937 single work novel ; The Australian Crisis C. H. Kirmess , 1908 single work novel ; The Coloured Conquest Rata , 1904 single work novel
The Yellow Danger 1909 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 17 June vol. 30 no. 1531 1909; (p. 2)
— Review of The Australian Crisis C. H. Kirmess , 1908 single work novel
The Scared Who Want to Scare : Fear of a Japanese Invasion in Australian Literature Megumi Kato , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Complicities : Connections and Divisions : Perspectives on Literatures and Cultures of the Asia-Pacific Region 2003; (p. 43-51)
Australian Science Fiction : In Search of the 'Feel' Dorotta Guttfeld , 2007-2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Zeitschrift fur Australienstudien , no. 21-22 2007-2008; (p. 65-72)
'The Yellow Peril,' Invasion Scare Novels and Australian Political Culture Neville Meaney , 1996 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The 1890s : Australian Literature and Literary Culture 1996; (p. 228-263)
y separately published work icon Writing the Colonial Adventure : Race, Gender and Nation in Anglo-Australian Popular Fiction, 1875-1914 Robert Dixon , Oakleigh : Cambridge University Press , 1995 Z480378 1995 single work criticism

'This book is an exploration of popular late nineteenth-century texts that show Australia - along with Africa, India and the Pacific Islands - to be a preferred site of imperial adventure. Focusing on the period from the advent of the new imperialism in the 1870s to the outbreak of World War I, Robert Dixon looks at a selection of British and Australian writers. Their books, he argues, offer insights into the construction of empire, masculinity, race, and Australian nationhood and identity. Writing the Colonial Adventure shows that the genre of adventure/romance was highly popular throughout this period. The book examines the variety of themes within their narrative form that captured many aspects of imperial ideology. In considering the broader ramifications of these works, Professor Dixon develops an original approach to popular fiction, both for its own sake and as a mode of cultural history.' (Introduction)
Invasion and the Politics of Belonging in Pat Grant's Blue Felicity Castagna , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Scholar , vol. 3 no. 1 2014; In this essay, Felicity Castagna notes 'the long history of invasion narratives in Australian literature, and how they served to reify the governmental belonging of White Australians inciting nationalism and encouraging vigilance in relation to migration and national security.' (From introduction)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (8)
Last amended 7 Apr 2016 10:42:05
Subjects:
Settings:
  • Northern Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Western Australia,
  • 1912
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