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y separately published work icon Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines selected work   prose   dreaming story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1924... 1924 Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Originally written in the 1920s by David Unaipon. The original work was edited by W. Ramsay Smith and published in 1930 credited to W. Ramsay Smith as Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, without acknowledgement of Unaipon's authorship. Shoemaker and Muecke republished it in 2001 under Unaipon's name and original title.

AustLit uses the original Unaipon title as the main title showing Ramsay Smith's title as an alternative title on those editions published prior to the restitution edition.

Exhibitions

17203399
18005883
18005672
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Reading Australia

Reading Australia

This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.

Unit Suitable For

AC: Year 10 (NSW Stage 5). Possibly an extension Year 9 class.

Themes

Aboriginality, Australia, Australian identity, Christianity, Indigenous, Myths and Legends

General Capabilities

Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Intercultural understanding, Literacy

Cross-curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Sustainability

Notes

  • Originally written in the 1920s by David Unaipon. The original work was edited by W. Ramsay Smith and published in 1930 credited to W. Ramsay Smith as Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, without acknowledgement of Unaipon's authorship. Shoemaker and Muecke republished it in 2001 under Unaipon's name and original title.

    AustLit uses the original Unaipon title as the main title showing Ramsay Smith's title as an alternative title on those editions published prior to the restitution edition.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Melbourne, Victoria,:Melbourne University Press , 2001 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Introduction : Repatriating the Story, Adam Shoemaker , Stephen Muecke , single work non-fiction correspondence (p. xi-xliii)
Note on the Edition, Stephen Muecke , Adam Shoemaker , single work review (p. xlv-xlvi)
Preface, David Unaipon , single work prose (p. 3)
Aboriginal Folklore, David Unaipon , single work oral history (p. 4)
Aborigines, Their Traditions and Customs : Where Did They Come From?, David Unaipon , single work oral history (p. 5-7)
Some Stories About My Race : What the Aborigines' Carvings Near Sydney Mean, David Unaipon , single work oral history (p. 8-10)
Belief of the Aborigine in a Great Spirit, David Unaipon , single work oral history (p. 11-13)
Confusion of Tongue, David Unaipon , single work oral history (p. 14-16)
Fishing, David Unaipon , single work oral history (p. 17-24)
The Flood and its Result, David Unaipon , single work prose dreaming story (p. 25-41)
The Gherawhar (Goanna), David Unaipon , single work prose dreaming story

'This is a story belonging to the Murrumbidgee River tribe, and they associate this locality as the first settled home of the Gherawhar (Goanna...) after leaving their temporary home at Shoalhaven, and before...to other parts of Australia. When they occupied this country there was no flowing Murrumbidgee River. The only river then was the... which was formed by the ancient Pendie, a fish commonly called the Murray Cod.' (David Unaipon, 1924-25)

 (p. 42-52)
Gool Lun Naga (Green Frog), David Unaipon , single work short story Indigenous story

Benjamin Miller describes this story in the following way: 'a creation story about a Water Spirit who desires to enter the material world. A Lyre Bird, who is adept at singing the songs of other animals, is asked by a spirit to sing into a stream. After much beautiful singing a Being emerges from the water. The Lyre Bird names the Being "Gool lun naga, a son of the clear running stream of water"'.

Source: Benjamin Miller, 'David Unaipon's Style of Subversion: Performativity and Becoming in "Gool Lun Naga (Green Frog)"', JASAL Special Issue (2008):84.

 (p. 53-59)
Hunting, David Unaipon , single work oral history essay

The author talks about the hunting practices of the Australian Aboriginals.

 (p. 60-68)
How the Tortoise Got His Shell, David Unaipon , single work prose dreaming story

A story about the tortoise and his conflict with the Eaglehawk.

 (p. 69-70)
Immortality, David Unaipon , single work prose dreaming story

The author talks about the how the Australian Aboriginals have a legend that explains natural phenomena.

 (p. 71-73)
Love Story of the Mar Rallang, David Unaipon , single work prose dreaming story

The story of two sisters who fall in love with the same boy.

 (p. 74-76)
The Mar Kar Ree (Moon), David Unaipon , single work prose dreaming story

The story of a man called The Mar Kar Ree and his trail of looking for a wife.

 (p. 77-79)
Marriage Customs of the Australian Aborigines, David Unaipon , single work oral history

The author talks about the customs,rituals, and laws of marriage between men and women in Australian Aboriginal societies.

 (p. 80-84)
The Mischievous Crow and the Good He Did, David Unaipon , single work prose dreaming story

In a comparison to the biblical stories of the forces of good and evil, the author presents this story of crow from the Narrinyur people, an Aboriginal representation of good and evil which has played an important part in their traditions and legends.

 (p. 85-119)
Narroondarie's Wives, David Unaipon , single work short story

'Narroondarie is the name of one of the many good men that were sent among the various tribes of the Australian Aborigines...' (David Unaipon, 1924-25)

 (p. 120-133)
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

      ca. 1924-1925 .
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • Title is 'Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines'

      Holdings

      Held at: State Library of NSW
      Note:
      Microfilm : CY 1134; CY 1135
Notes:
The original work was edited by W. Ramsay Smith and published in 1930 credited to W. Ramsay Smith as Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals, without acknowledgement of Unaipon's authorship.
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

y separately published work icon More Australian Legendary Tales K. Langloh Parker , London Melbourne : David Nutt Melville, Mullen and Slade , 1898 Z180902 1898 selected work prose Indigenous story
y separately published work icon Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines David Unaipon , 1924-1925 6043804 1924 single work prose Indigenous story

This manuscript contains the original works of David Unaipon's Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines.
y separately published work icon Myths and Legends of the Australian Aborigines Myths & Legends of the Australian Aboriginals Alice Bolingbroke Woodward (illustrator), W. Ramsay Smith , David Unaipon , London : Harrap , 1930 6080162 1930 selected work prose dreaming story

This 1930s publication describes the legends of the Australian Aborigines located in the southeast corner of Australia near the Murray River. It covers a range of narratives from the creation stories to those of witchcraft, and explanations of landmarks. (Source: Preface).
y separately published work icon Australian Legendary Tales K. Langloh Parker , Henrietta Drake-Brockman (editor), Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1953 Z917812 1953 selected work prose essay Indigenous story
y separately published work icon Australian Legends Osutoraria densetsu W. Ramsay Smith , David Unaipon , Tokyo : Oseania Shuppansha , 1985 Z900616 1985 selected work short story Indigenous story This book is an illustrated edition comprising six stories from W. Ramsay Smith's 1930 edition of Myths and Legends of the Australian Aborigines.
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (5)

Works about this Work

Across "Koori Time" and Space John Maynard , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Everywhen : Australia and the Language of Deep History 2023; (p. 221-228)
A (Sovereign) Body of Work : Australian Indigenous Literary Culture and the Literary Fiction Novel Eugenia Flynn , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
Kurangk/Coorong Atmospheres : Postcolonial Stories and Regional Futures Emily Potter , Brigid Magner , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs , October vol. 23 no. 2 2019; 'This paper proposes an atmospheric understanding of regional writing, and considers a critical methodology for assembling a literary history of the Kurangk/Coorong region of South Australia. In opposition to literary history guided by national forms, this methodology works from within the shifting entanglements of postcolonial place and its many stories, recognising the material impacts of poetic practice on more-than-human environments. The future of the Kurangk/Coorong is caught up in how this place has, and continues to be, imagined and narrated.' (Publication abstract)
 
Writing Indigenous Vampires : Aboriginal Gothic or Aboriginal Fantastic? Bruno Starrs , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: M/C Journal , August vol. 17 no. 4 2014; 'The usual postmodern suspicions about diligently deciphering authorial intent or stridently seeking fixed meaning/s and/or binary distinctions in an artistic work aside, this self-indulgent essay pushes the boundaries regarding normative academic research, for it focusses on my own (minimally celebrated) published creative writing’s status as a literary innovation. Dedicated to illuminating some of the less common denominators at play in Australian horror, my paper recalls the creative writing process involved when I set upon the (arrogant?) goal of creating a new genre of creative writing: that of the ‘Aboriginal Fantastic’. I compare my work to the literary output of a small but significant group (2.5% of the population), of which I am a member: Aboriginal Australians. I narrow my focus even further by examining that creative writing known as Aboriginal horror. And I reduce the sample size of my study to an exceptionally small number by restricting my view to one type of Aboriginal horror literature only: the Aboriginal vampire novel, a genre to which I have contributed professionally with the 2011 paperback and 2012 e-book publication of That Blackfella Bloodsucka Dance! However, as this paper hopefully demonstrates, and despite what may be interpreted by some cynical commentators as the faux sincerity of my taxonomic fervour, Aboriginal horror is a genre noteworthy for its instability and worthy of further academic interrogation.' (Introduction)
Australian Aboriginal Life Writers and their Editors: Cross-Cultural Collaboration, Authorial Intention, and the Impact of Editorial Choices Jennifer Jones , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: A Companion to Australian Aboriginal Literature 2013; (p. 35-52)

When Mary Ann Hughes complained in 1998 that critics were preoccupied with the process of editorial collaboration that shaped Australian Aboriginal texts, she argued that this focus led to the neglect of the literary merit of the work. While the collaboration of mainstream writers with editors primarily went unremarked, “in the case of an Aboriginal writer, the role of the editor in constructing the work is the issue which most readily springs to the fore.” Hughes remarked upon the then decade-long critical determination to materialize the traditionally invisible craft of editing. This critical preoccupation ran parallel with the second wave of Aboriginal life writing (Brewster, 44), which witnessed the transformation of Aboriginal publishing from marginal to mainstream, reaching beyond the local to global audiences (Haag, 12). The exponential increase in the publication of Aboriginal life writing was accompanied by the politicization of publication processes, including coproduction, that have conventionally been kept from public view. (Introduction)
In Pursuit of Rightful Custodians Maria Nugent , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 21 June no. 5177 2002; (p. 28)
— Review of Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines David Unaipon , 1924 selected work prose
Untitled Sue Clancy , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , February vol. 46 no. 1 2002; (p. 35-36)
— Review of Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines David Unaipon , 1924 selected work prose
The Legendary David Unaipon Elizabeth Guy , 2002 single work review
— Appears in: Cultural Studies Review , May vol. 8 no. 1 2002; (p. 176-179)
— Review of Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines David Unaipon , 1924 selected work prose
Blak and Write Anita Heiss , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 12 September vol. 124 no. 6537 2006; (p. 68-69)
— Review of Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines David Unaipon , 1924 selected work prose ; Meanjin vol. 65 no. 1 2006 periodical issue ; Rob Riley : An Aboriginal Leader's Quest for Justice Quentin Beresford , 2006 single work biography
Mythical Book Rights a Literary Wrong Michelle Dicinoski , 2006 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 20 - 21 May 2006; (p. 27)
— Review of Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines David Unaipon , 1924 selected work prose
Introducing David Unaipon Sue Hosking , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Regenerative Spirit : Volume 1 : Polarities of Home and Away, Encounters and Diasporas, in Post-Colonial Literatures 2003; (p. 6-13)
A Summary of the Best New Books 1930 single work column
— Appears in: All About Books , 5 December vol. 2 no. 12 1930; (p. 325-329) This column is written 'as a bookseller selecting books for different types of readers rather than as a literary critic'. It is divided into the sections: 'Novels of Literary Merit', 'Popular Good Stories' and 'General Literature'. Its emphasis is not Australian literature.
Australian Children's Books M. L. Fitzgerald , 1926 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian Woman's Mirror , 9 November vol. 2 no. 50 1926; (p. 18)
Introduction : Repatriating the Story Adam Shoemaker , Stephen Muecke , 2001 single work non-fiction correspondence
— Appears in: Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines 2001; (p. xi-xliii)
Note on the Edition Stephen Muecke , Adam Shoemaker , 2001 single work review
— Appears in: Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines 2001; (p. xlv-xlvi)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (35)
Last amended 28 Nov 2019 15:53:49
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