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y separately published work icon The Battle of the Yarra single work   novella  
Note: Title page attributes this work to 'An Old Colonist', but the identity of the author as Edmund Finn has not been confirmed.
Issue Details: First known date: 1883... 1883 The Battle of the Yarra
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The novel is an invasion dystopia which depicts a Russian military attack on a major colonial city.

Notes

  • In 1882 three Russian Navy ships - the Africa, Vestink (Herald or Messenger) and Platon (Plato) - made port in Melbourne, sparking fears in the press of a Russian invasion. A brief mobilisation of defence forces ensued before the lack of aggressive intent was made clear. The Battle of the Yarra details a fictional conflict between the Russians and troops in Melbourne, and is likely based on this incident, although it is set "many a long year ago".

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

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Works about this Work

Britishness and Australian Popular Fiction : From the Mid-Nineteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Centuries Hsu-Ming Teo , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers 2012; (p. 46-66) 'The analysis offered here is [...], a panoptic perspective of the tangled skeins of literary imagination and imitation, gender and genre requirements, editorial control, market considerations and the sheer economics of the international book trade that knotted Australian popular literature into the cultural and economic fabric of the British empire.' (47)
Britishness and Australian Popular Fiction : From the Mid-Nineteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Centuries Hsu-Ming Teo , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Sold by the Millions : Australia's Bestsellers 2012; (p. 46-66) 'The analysis offered here is [...], a panoptic perspective of the tangled skeins of literary imagination and imitation, gender and genre requirements, editorial control, market considerations and the sheer economics of the international book trade that knotted Australian popular literature into the cultural and economic fabric of the British empire.' (47)
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Last amended 31 Mar 2016 09:15:09
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  • Melbourne, Victoria,
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