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Issue Details: First known date: 1953... 1953 Caddie: A Sydney Barmaid : An Autobiography Written by Herself
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Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Caddie Joan Long , ( dir. Donald Crombie ) Sydney : Anthony Buckley Productions , 1976 Z1148145 1976 single work film/TV (taught in 1 units)

Based on the autobiography of a woman (otherwise unidentified in the text) who worked as a housekeeper for the writers Dymphna Cusack and Florence James, Caddie is set in Sydney between the mid-1920s and the early 1930s. The narrative concerns a respectable woman from the suburbs who walks out on her unfaithful husband. With no money and two children to feed, she takes a job as a barmaid. Having never been in a pub in her life, Caddie is confronted with the horrors of the 'six o'clock swill', as desperate men cling to the bar, vomiting and urinating where they stand, rather than lose their place. She eventually learns the trade with help from fellow barmaid Josie (Jacki Weaver), while learning also about the people and lifestyles of those who inhabit the inner-city districts. Following a brief and disastrous affair with Ted, an SP bookmaker, she falls in love with Peter, a charming and sophisticated Greek immigrant, who is also still married. When Peter is called back to Greece as the effects of the Depression increase, he promises to return as soon as he can. Caddie, in the meantime, finds herself alone, without a job or the money to feed her children.

Notes

  • Constable's contract for Caddie is in both names (Cusack and Elliot-Mackay); copyright is jointly held (now by the estates) and the royalties split 50/50.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Constable ,
      1953 .
      image of person or book cover 8017531625349995675.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: xxi, 274p.
      Reprinted: 1953 Three times
      Note/s:
      • Introduced by Dymphna Cusack.
Notes:
This version omits the final paragraph of the 1953 version. The postscript by Cusack, 'Vale Caddie', differs from the postcript in the 1953 version.
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Sun Books , 1966 .
      image of person or book cover 8018872773057430657.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: xviii, 199 [2]p.p.
      Reprinted: 1975 , 1976 Seven times
      Note/s:
      • Introduced by Dymphna Cusack.

Other Formats

Works about this Work

Life-Writing and Diaspora II : The Autobiographical Writings of the Irish in Britain and Australia Patrick Buckridge , Liam Harte , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: A History of Irish Autobiography 2018; (p. 331-347)

'There is no more common Irish journey than that made by generations of people ‘across the water’ to Great Britain. A complex set of factors, from the countries’ geographical proximity to the colonial nature of their historical relationship, combine to ensure that Irish migration to Britain ‘comprises a very large, very special case’.  Australia, too, has claims to exceptionalism as a receptor of Irish migrants. Oliver MacDonagh proposes three respects in which the Irish-Australian diaspora differs from its counterparts in Britain and North America: its historically high percentage of the total population of the new country, its very even demographic distribution and the somewhat special status of the Irish as a ‘founding people’, arriving in Australia – mainly as convicts and soldiers – at the beginning of its European colonization, thereby exercising a potentially stronger influence over the shape and destiny of the new nation than the other Irish emigrations could hope to achieve. Although points of commonality co-exist with these markers of difference – particularly for Catholic Irish migrants, who have a shared historical experience of being a denigrated out-group in both countries – any joint examination of the autobiographical writings of the Irish in Britain and Australia must expect the contrasts to eclipse the correspondences. Yet, as this chapter will show, despite being shaped by highly distinctive diasporic histories and sociocultural conditions, these respective literary corpuses reveal certain narrative preoccupations that illuminate the shifting meanings of home and belonging for those whose identities are forged across boundaries and heritages.' (Introduction)

'This Isn't a Novel. It is a Life!' : Dymphna Cusask and Caddie : A Sydney Barmaid Diane E. Kirkby , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 22 no. 4 2006; (p. 495-506)
This article examines the collaborative writing relationship between author Dymphna Cusask and the autobiographical subject Catherine Elliott-Mackay. It also considers the contribution of 'Caddie' to Australian women's writing and the history of women's work.
Untitled Scrutarius , 1966 single work review
— Appears in: Walkabout , December vol. 32 no. 12 1966; (p. 77-78, 81)

— Review of Caddie: A Sydney Barmaid : An Autobiography Written by Herself Catherine Elliot-Mackay , 1953 single work autobiography
Untitled Scrutarius , 1966 single work review
— Appears in: Walkabout , December vol. 32 no. 12 1966; (p. 77-78, 81)

— Review of Caddie: A Sydney Barmaid : An Autobiography Written by Herself Catherine Elliot-Mackay , 1953 single work autobiography
'This Isn't a Novel. It is a Life!' : Dymphna Cusask and Caddie : A Sydney Barmaid Diane E. Kirkby , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 22 no. 4 2006; (p. 495-506)
This article examines the collaborative writing relationship between author Dymphna Cusask and the autobiographical subject Catherine Elliott-Mackay. It also considers the contribution of 'Caddie' to Australian women's writing and the history of women's work.
Life-Writing and Diaspora II : The Autobiographical Writings of the Irish in Britain and Australia Patrick Buckridge , Liam Harte , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: A History of Irish Autobiography 2018; (p. 331-347)

'There is no more common Irish journey than that made by generations of people ‘across the water’ to Great Britain. A complex set of factors, from the countries’ geographical proximity to the colonial nature of their historical relationship, combine to ensure that Irish migration to Britain ‘comprises a very large, very special case’.  Australia, too, has claims to exceptionalism as a receptor of Irish migrants. Oliver MacDonagh proposes three respects in which the Irish-Australian diaspora differs from its counterparts in Britain and North America: its historically high percentage of the total population of the new country, its very even demographic distribution and the somewhat special status of the Irish as a ‘founding people’, arriving in Australia – mainly as convicts and soldiers – at the beginning of its European colonization, thereby exercising a potentially stronger influence over the shape and destiny of the new nation than the other Irish emigrations could hope to achieve. Although points of commonality co-exist with these markers of difference – particularly for Catholic Irish migrants, who have a shared historical experience of being a denigrated out-group in both countries – any joint examination of the autobiographical writings of the Irish in Britain and Australia must expect the contrasts to eclipse the correspondences. Yet, as this chapter will show, despite being shaped by highly distinctive diasporic histories and sociocultural conditions, these respective literary corpuses reveal certain narrative preoccupations that illuminate the shifting meanings of home and belonging for those whose identities are forged across boundaries and heritages.' (Introduction)

Awards

1999 winner The TDK Australian Audio Book Awards Unabridged Non-Fiction
Last amended 13 Mar 2020 08:13:04
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