Skip to main content

Posts

A chapter on Pedagogy

I have spent much of the holidays writing in the quiet of the domed LaTrobe reading room at the State Library where Snugglepot & Mr. Goanna welcome visitors. Ernst had begun to teach at a time when educational ideas were changing. Frank Tate, Director of Education (1902-1939), argued against the old painful ‘unintelligent memory methods that weren’t true teaching’ and suggested that the new programme should aim ‘at training self reliance and ability to acquire knowledge at first hand’. The revised program (1902) consisted of nature study (elemental) science, manual training (brushwork, paperwork, or school gardening), drawing (including geometry, freehand and use of compass, ruler, mid set square), singing, health and special lessons reading and explanation, composition, word building and spelling, penmanship, map-drawing, geography, parsing, analysis and derivative roots, poetry, tables, arithmetic, measuration, history and exploration lessons. There was opposition to the '

A Saturday morning tour of Ernst's heritage

Headstone Tribute of Maria Heyne, Agnes Straubel and Theodor Ernst  One of the best (awesomest as my students would say) aspect of researching a writer from your own city/state is that  the places in which they lived, worked, visited are easily accessible. Visiting from Adelaide, Trevor, a descendant of Olga's uncle Christian Martin Ernst, invited me to join him to visit significant 'sites' in Ernst's life. I hoped to gain a 'sense' of the German Melbourne community in which she lived. Of course, my thesis is NOT a biography although I have completed enough research to write one! A writer's environment impacts on their work and so this 'physical' research gives me an opportunity to 'place' Ernst's writing in context.  483 & 485 Brunswick St A productive morning beginning with the search for the headstone in the Lutheran section of the Melbourne General Cemetery, visiting the East Melbourne Trinity Lutheran Church where Ernst

Post PhD - Who's the audience?

What happens when I finish? The end maybe in sight - well at least in the next year or so.  What then? Who is the audience, apart from supervisors and examiners?  Maybe...the Librarian ... with enough wine and chocolates to convince him that proof reading for spliced commas and other grammatical disasters is important.  How will I feel?  Elated, Ready for a long holiday!  Ready to rejoin the human race – the family and friends? Able to  do things I've been putting off?  Do I select elements of the thesis  to develop and rewrite for publication? Do I  select elements for conference presentation? Is there a book of Ernst's life waiting to be written? Ah well... the end will not be reached unless I begin my next chapter on Pedagogy and Place in Ernst's work.

Bunyips in early Australian fairy tales

J.Macfarlane's bunyip is a terrifying creature! It has been suggested that the jokey humour of ‘Mr. Bunyip’ set the tone for the description of bunyips in later books.  To an eager Mary Somerville who has strayed from the path in a ‘Red Riding Hood like’ ramble Mr. Bunyip is not a monster who wants to eat her but is a kind hearted chap giving her some social and historical pointers. The Murray River and Melbourne contrast with the magic of the talking beast and references to the old country (England). Mary has all the qualities needed to be the 'perfect' Colonial gal. She is a good scholar, winning school prizes, obeying her father, is trustworthy, neat, prayful and rises early. The disparity between her goodness with Mr. Bunyip’s admission of alcoholism and wife beating is thought provoking. Mr. Bunyip is forgiven by his wife for this lapse into the unacceptable practice of thrashing one’s wife as he was under the influence of the evil alcohol.   However, the fish i

An Afternoon in Fairy Land

'An Afternoon in Fairy land' sounded enticing. Discovered quite by chance via the  Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy  The Monash Fairy Tale Salon held an 'afternoon in fairy land' to honour the exhibition, In Fairy Land : an exhibition of Fairy Tale Books from  the Monash Rare Books Collection. Brilliant that it was happening on my weekly study day! Although Phillippa and I have championed storytelling as a way to enhance language skills, develop an understanding of linguistic structures and achieve significant gains in Literacy achievement levels  it was an absorbing, and relaxing, experience to be the listener rather than the teller. Louisa John-Krol began the afternoon enchanting us with a traditional tale of riddles and overcoming 'the monster'. David Haworth read his invented fairytale 'The Bone Flute', a collage of fairy tales motifs, plots, characters and a twist (that I won't reveal as I'm sure it will be published

Thesis Bootcamp Fan!

On the weekend I began to re-work on 5000 words I wrote for one section of a chapter - a particularly difficult one that I began drafting very early in the process which has evolved over the journey to something unrecognisably different.  Today I found a quiet desk in the Giblin Euson Library, and began to reshape the words into the chapter I wanted to write adding references, checking quotes, slashing chunks and re-wording 'bits'. Normally working full time from splurging to agonising  takes about a month - approximately two hours per day but with the splurging done at Bootcamp in Feb it has been a much much quicker process.  Splurgers Vs Agonisers Working with Hazel Edwards while mentoring gifted writers she mentioned these terms in relation to how authors write. I think they describe beautifully the writing process. Hazel has heaps more tips on her website. This is the a mini quiz we designed for a Girlfriends! Program forum  on writing. (Girls Year 5-9) GS loved the e

Further search for Beatrice Wilcken in Dunedin

In Dunedin as part of a NZ holiday but research always beckons. Limited internet but I manage in snippets when free wi-fi available! Interested to know if I can track down any more information on Wilcken (another German writer of early Australian fairytales) who taught music for sometime in Dunedin and gave a concert at the Choral Hall. A conversation with another PhD student Jai Paterson about her intriguing thesis topic which examines Trans-Tasman migrant  flows between Australia and New Zealand (from respectable families) sent me off on this quest. Unfortunately Beatrice did not emerge in any diaries or papers. The Dunedin Historical Society did not have her name in their archives.   But when visiting Olverston House , amazingly fully furnished as when lived in with its original owners, my ears pricked up when I discovered its library (including children's books) remained intact. Unfortunately her book was not found in the inventory so I couldn't argue for it being taken to

Forgotten how hard writing was ...

If the Australian identity in the early Australian literature of the 1840s can be attributed to the new settlers’ ‘quest for belonging and identity’ and the often violent, clash of Indigenous and immigrant cultures as well as a longing for home ... After two weeks in New Zealand I had forgotten how hard writing was and only managed four paragraphs yesterday. I read the Thesis Whisperer's blog for inspiration - I like her sense of humour! I especially like the blog about taking a thesis writing retreat in New York although I'm always happy to settle for Jan's cabin in Tassie.  Babysitting today but with XP having a morning nap sleeping in the cot next to me I seem to have found a new speed. Something nice about having a companion when you are working alone. Of course, not to be left out WM is going with me to the Bailleu on Tuesday to borrow some books and, while I have a coffee, to soak up the academic air. Kel and B spent weekends at Monash University Library in the 9

Gender and publication

I da Rentoul Outhwaite, Minnie Rowe, Ethel Jackson Morris, May Gibbs, Pixie O'Harris and Peg Maltby are our most well known of fairytalers but less is known of those early fairy talers of whom Ernst was one. Approximately twelve books appeared sporadically over thirty years between the appearance of the first fairy tale in 1870, three published in Melbourne, one in the Victorian Gold Rush town of Ballaarat, one in Hobart and four in Sydney and two in London by Australian authors. Twelve books is a very small sample and it should be mentioned that there were also short stories: fairy tales in annuals and other children's collections.  There are a number of differences between those tales written by men and those written by women and one I explore is the difference between the articulated motive of men and women writers. The male writers do not seem to have the same concerns about the worth of their book while female writers seek approval and acknowledgement and seem ex

My Thesis - what's it about?

I am always thrilled to be contacted by those who by chance find my blog. I have been blogging for three years and am hoping to complete my first draft by the end of the year. I thought it timely to re-publish what has already been published. The following is from my presentation at the University of Kassel, Germany. In 1904 Olga Ernst, a pupil teacher, wrote Fairy Tales from the Land of the Wattle. Although she was just sixteen years old, Ernst was one of a small group of writers in Australia who attempted to nationalise the fairytale towards the end of the nineteenth century, signalling quite clearly that they intended to affix the elves and fairies of Europe onto the Australian landscape aiming to fill a void that was keenly felt by the children of emigrants and the Australian-born children of emigrants. (Walker, 1988) The beginnings of the Australian bush fantasy genre can be linked with the desire to bring the comfortable and familiar into the new and distinctly non

Thesis Bootcamp - drop and give me... 20000 words

It's more than likely Olga used these stairs. I applied for this UniMelb program to overcome my thesis fatigue having written a chapter every two months for the last year while working full time. Advertised as a 'no-excuses, no-time-for-procrastination, take-no-prisoners intensive writing weekend', achieving my Holy Grail of 5000 words in a weekend appealed. I was keen to show those staff members who completed the Tough Mudder challenge last week and bounced into work wearing their TM t-shirts that I could undertake something equally gruelling but cleaner! I was after the coveted mug to fill with plunger coffee and place strategically next to those-who-should-be-impressed in the staffroom. My Trophy Green = 5000 words Blue = 10000 words Red = 15000 words It was a gift! To be able to simply write..write...write and wander into the lunch room for any kind of snack whenever: breakie bars, cereal, yoghurt, vego delights, scones.    No internet access  - challeng

Martin Ernst - a Pharmacist's Apprentice

It seems that although my focus is the work of Olga Ernst, divergent pathways appear that fascinate and compel me to investigate a little! Martin Ernst, Olga's uncle, also emigrated and for some time lived in Melbourne becoming apprenticed to his brother Theodor (Olga's father) as a chemist.  Although Renee at the Lutheran Archives alerted me to the fact that Theodor had a brother, I received confirmation from a descendant in South Australia.  Julius Theodor Ernst (known as Theodor) was one of a number of chemists, trained at the University of Liepzig, who entered the colony of Victoria in the decades after 1850. A member of the Prussian Reserve as a pharmacist he was proud of his profession.  The Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria was established in 1857 while twenty years later, in 1876, the Pharmacy and Poisons Act set professional standards. A Pharmacy Board was established in 1877, one of its tasks to establish a register of pharmacists.  Concern with the issue of differ

GymbaROO article

GymbaROO.   Founded in 1983 in Melbourne by Margaret Sasse (1929-2009) to “help the children of the world maximize their learning potential”, Margaret drew no salary of directors fees for the entirety of that time, and in fact sold the family farm to keep it her mission afloat. Over 30,000 children and their parents attend a Gymbaroo/KindyROO session somewhere in Australia every week. These numbers continue to increase every year due to word of mouth. I’m back in my study although I have three shelves piled with paper and an overfull filing cabinet to sort before I can start my PhD again. I have just written and thrown aside papers finished with this term in my quest to complete. As next year (2013) is GymbaROO’s 30 year anniversary, and the February edition of First Steps magazine focuses on achievements and glories.  As an ex GymbaROO teacher,  parent and now GymbaROO Granny,  I offered to write an article about past GymbaROO students “Where are the