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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'The dwellers in Australian Fairy Land, although akin to those of other climes, have a distinct character of their own. Even the wicked Desert Fairies endear themselves to us. Although they do not vomit fire, as did the dreadful dragon of our childhood, one feels that, given a sporting chance, they would make that boastful beast curl up like a salted worm'.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Fantasising the Nation for Child Readers in Early Australian Fairy Tales
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 11 December vol. 37 no. 3 2022;'This article examines three collections of Australian fairy tales published between 1897 and 1925 and considers the ways in which they contributed to nation-building efforts. Atha Westbury’s Australian Fairy Tales (1897), J. M. Whitfeld’s The Spirit of the Bush Fire and Other Australian Fairy Tales (1898), and Hume Cook’s Australian Fairy Tales (1925) fantasise a nation into being through the fairy-tale genre. The associations of the European fairy-tale tradition with a distant past (‘once upon a time’) are mobilised to create a ‘ready-made’ set of traditions and cultural explanations through which the implied Australian child can understand a nation that was only federated in 1901. This ranged from creating origin stories for natural landmarks like J. M. Whitfeld, through to imagining well-developed fairy cities in the most isolated parts of Australia, far from the eyes of white settlers, as in Atha Westbury and Hume Cook’s collections. Stories by Cook and Westbury blur the distinction between fairy-tale characters and First Nations people, at once yoking imported traditions to the enduring history of First Nations peoples and replacing them in the cultural imaginary with mythical characters who have never existed.' (Publication abstract)
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How Early Australian Fairy Tales Displaced Aboriginal People with Mythical Creatures and Fantasies of Empty Land
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 July 2022;'Most of us grew up reading fairy tales adapted from the European tradition: stories of kings, queens and princesses set in palaces and forests, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast. But what about the history of Australian fairy tales?'(Introduction)
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Hume Cook and Christian Yandell's Australian Fairy Tales 1925
2015
single work
— Appears in: Biblionews and Australian Notes & Queries , June no. 386 2015; (p. 62-80) -
“She Flings her Elfin Dreams of Mystery” : The Child-Poet Gwen Cope in the Land of “Australian Faery,” 1931–1939
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Bookbird , January vol. 51 no. 1 2013; (p. 21-30) 'Gwen Cope enjoyed a significant reputation as a gifted Australian child-poet throughout the 1930s. Nevertheless, her two collections remain unacknowledged in the history of Australian literature despite their popularity. This article situates Cope's fairy-poetry against the ideological backdrop defined by adult fairy-poets of the 1930s to reveal fundamental discords between the child-poet writing her vision of fairy-folklore and the canonical writers who aimed to re-conceptualize " faery-lore" in the interests of Australian national literature.' (Author's abstract) -
Australia's Fairy Tales Illustrated in Print : Instances of Indigeneity, Colonization, and Suburbanization
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Marvels & Tales , vol. 25 no. 1 2011; (p. 13-32) Australian fairy tale could be following a new direction, evident in the recent work of Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan. From a historical point of view, this article examines the disparity of early attempts to capture indigenous storytelling as fairy tale for white children and the invasion of the native landscape with English fairy creatures. It shows how this disparity has matured into a rediscovery of the underlying strangeness of the migratory infrastructures of Australian suburbs that are evident in such tales as those presented in Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008) (Author's abstract).
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Australia's Fairy Tales Illustrated in Print : Instances of Indigeneity, Colonization, and Suburbanization
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Marvels & Tales , vol. 25 no. 1 2011; (p. 13-32) Australian fairy tale could be following a new direction, evident in the recent work of Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan. From a historical point of view, this article examines the disparity of early attempts to capture indigenous storytelling as fairy tale for white children and the invasion of the native landscape with English fairy creatures. It shows how this disparity has matured into a rediscovery of the underlying strangeness of the migratory infrastructures of Australian suburbs that are evident in such tales as those presented in Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008) (Author's abstract). -
“She Flings her Elfin Dreams of Mystery” : The Child-Poet Gwen Cope in the Land of “Australian Faery,” 1931–1939
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Bookbird , January vol. 51 no. 1 2013; (p. 21-30) 'Gwen Cope enjoyed a significant reputation as a gifted Australian child-poet throughout the 1930s. Nevertheless, her two collections remain unacknowledged in the history of Australian literature despite their popularity. This article situates Cope's fairy-poetry against the ideological backdrop defined by adult fairy-poets of the 1930s to reveal fundamental discords between the child-poet writing her vision of fairy-folklore and the canonical writers who aimed to re-conceptualize " faery-lore" in the interests of Australian national literature.' (Author's abstract) -
In Memory of Lu Rees
1984
single work
column
— Appears in: The Lu Rees Archives Notes, Books and Authors , no. 4 1984; (p. 4) -
Hume Cook and Christian Yandell's Australian Fairy Tales 1925
2015
single work
— Appears in: Biblionews and Australian Notes & Queries , June no. 386 2015; (p. 62-80) -
How Early Australian Fairy Tales Displaced Aboriginal People with Mythical Creatures and Fantasies of Empty Land
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 6 July 2022;'Most of us grew up reading fairy tales adapted from the European tradition: stories of kings, queens and princesses set in palaces and forests, such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast. But what about the history of Australian fairy tales?'(Introduction)